


blackbody (radiation)

by adiha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Astronomy, BAMF Sirius Black, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dementors, Divination, Gen, Magical Tattoos, Magical Theory (Harry Potter), Not Beta Read, POV Sirius Black, Post-Sirius Black in Azkaban, Self-Indulgent, Sirius Black Lives, Study of Ancient Runes (Harry Potter), Wandless Magic, slowburn, the author won't attempt to sound british, wolfstar is in background
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26653378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adiha/pseuds/adiha
Summary: Sirius Black is on the run and he wants to take revenge and maybe see his Godson. Involves magical theory and the brilliant mind of the Chosen One’s Godfather.AU where Sirius Black invents a whole new magical discipline because he can.
Relationships: Sirius Black & Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 79
Kudos: 166





	1. Privet Drive

**Author's Note:**

> The idea is that Sirius has tattoos, and they are actually functional. The other idea is that brilliance doesn’t stop when you get old. So why would Sirius -an Animagus at age 15, co-creator of a very advanced magical map, and top of his class- Black’s? Also, it is mostly because I’m pissed that he dies less than 2 years out of prison and Snape is the only one who gets to invent any spells.  
> Fuck JKR tbh.

_“a blackbody (in physics) is an ideal body that absorbs all radiant energy that falls upon it in with no reflection and that radiates at all frequencies with a spectral energy distribution dependent on its absolute temperature.”_

Sirius Black stood there, as his godson looked terrified on the ground across the street. This was not his intention. He didn’t want to scare Harry. He just wanted to see him, check on him. Sirius can’t remember Harry as a baby. Not much. He only remembers his godson as he was in Hagrid’s giant arms, crying… He hears Harry crying. All the time… now Harry looks scared.

This was not what he wanted. He didn’t think…

_“You never think, don’t you?”_

He can hear someone yelling at him. But there is only Harry, looking scared.

Before he could do more damage, the Knight Bus came, and Harry left with it.

Probably to Hogwarts. Where the _rat_ is. He tried to walk after the bus, which was already out of sight, but he collapsed on the ground. _Huh_. He is so tired. And hungry. _Right_. He didn’t eat much from Azkaban to here.

Why did he come here? To see Harry. He needs to remember. He needs to concentrate. Harry. Prongs’ son. _My godson. Harry is in danger_. Wormtail. _Remember_.

 _I need to kill Wormtail,_ he thought before losing consciousness.

* * *

The next time Sirius opened his eyes, he was relatively comfortable. Someone was giving him water. A woman, elderly. She reminded him of someone. But who was that?

The woman -a muggle- said something while stroking his fur. She can’t carry him. He is too heavy for her, even as skin and bones. But she tried to get him on his feet, and he followed his rescuer through the street. They walked slowly -the muggle is elderly and Padfoot is sickly- until they finally reached a house, and Padfoot sat down before the stairs.

The woman came back again after a few minutes with food. It smelled delicious. A month had passed traveling from the north of North Sea to Surrey, and all he had eaten was rats and food scraps from trashes.

Padfoot ate quickly while the woman watched. She talked to him about random things: her day, her grandkids, the owl she’d seen on the porch in the morning... And he listened to her as he fell asleep.

Sirius stayed with her for a few days. Until he gathered his strength. The travel from Azkaban had been hard and long. It’s a miracle he is still alive and sane. Although, he is not sure about the latter.

His nights are filled with nightmares and his days with hallucinations; he is hearing things. Terrible things. He tries to ignore, tries to hide his face under his paws, makes himself small and unnoticeable. But the screams are inside his head. He cannot escape.

Mary, as he learned her name two days later, is a kind animal-lover, who takes care of strays. She has a cat in the house, but the cat didn’t like Padfoot, so he stayed out in the garden. On the third day, he finally remembered who she looks like. Mrs. Potter. Prongs’ mother. She died before Harry was born. Mr. Potter, as well.

 _They took me in. They cared for me. My chosen family. They’re all dead. But not Harry!_ _Harry is alive_.

He needs to remember. He needs to kill the traitor.

So, he left. That night, he gave a silent farewell to kind Marry and left for Scotland.

* * *

As Padfoot, he could sleep anywhere with a somewhat shelter. He continued to eat from the trash, and sometimes people fed him if they were not afraid of him. He understands, Padfoot is very large and scary looking. Even when he is so thin. And his fur is matted with patches of hair falling off.

After a week of travel, he decided that he needed to find something better to eat. If he’s to kill Wormtail, he needs his strength. He also needs a wand but first: food.

He found a cabin near the river. Padfoot could smell the owner. A fisher. He could smell the man’s loneliness as much as he could smell the fish and moss on him. The owner had left at dawn and probably will come back in the evening.

He transformed and entered the single-room cabin. It looked cozy if a little bit sad. He wondered if the man had any family or friends. There were no photographs. The walls were bare. Sirius was not certain who he was feeling sorry for, his unaware host, or himself. There were muggle appliances in the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out anything eatable. He didn’t bother with heating. He just shoved milk, bread, day-old cooked fish in his mouth. When he was finally full, he tried to clean up his mess, and then himself in the bathroom.

The days which he would take care of his appearance were a distant memory. His hair, once smooth and shiny, is now limb and greasy. His skin, once unblemished save for a few scattered moles, now dried and pale with a filthy beard. His eyes… dead. Like Prongs. Like Lily.

He couldn’t handle looking into the mirror anymore. So, he focused on the running water on his hands. He rolled up his sleeves and this time stopped at the pattern on his right forearm, the grey ink is almost concealed by dirt on his skin. He ran a callused thumb over the thin waning crescent. His heart was filled with longing. Not for the first time he thought about how Moony is doing. With great willpower, he stopped himself thinking and after quickly washing his face and his hands, exited the bathroom.

He didn’t learn the name of his host. He was already guilty of eating everything in his fridge. But his guilt did not stop him from stealing a coat, as well as a pen and a notepad. He tore a page and scribbled an apology.

 _“I don’t need your apology; I need you to go away!”_ said Moony from somewhere.

So, with the stolen coat on his back, he transformed and went away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moon tattoo is totally ripped off from [kiapotter ](https://kiapotter.tumblr.com/post/155884524431/sirius-blacks-tattoos/).


	2. Runic Formula

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction to Magical Theory 101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Underlined: direct quote from the books

It had been two weeks since Sirius saw Harry. And almost two months since he escaped Azkaban.

He avoided the human population as much as he could. Forests were a good place for Padfoot. There were ponds for water; he could hunt small animals; there were no people who could recognize him if he transformed back which he didn’t do much.

Sirius didn’t like to leave Padfoot’s simple mind. Although the hallucinations were getting better, he still had nightmares every day. But he needed to think if he wanted to plan. _Focus_ , he kept telling himself. He kept forgetting things. Maybe he needed to write it down. So, he transformed, took out the pen and small notebook that he stole from the fisherman.

He wrote with shaking hands:

**_KILL WORMTAIL_ **

All capital, underlined.

**_in Hogwarts Harry is there_ **

Sirius used to have neat handwriting. Mother made sure of that.

“ _You are the heir of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. It is expected to have impeccable manners even in your written correspondences._ ”

Prongs was mostly mocking him saying his writing was better than any girls’. Now it looked worse than Prongs’.

**_Need: Moony_ **

But after a hesitation, he struck that. _Moony thinks you are a murderer, a traitor_. Maybe if he explains... But how can he do that? He can’t even convince himself that he was innocent.

 _ I as good as killed them _ _._

**_Need: Wand_ **

He could think of a few places where he can find a wand. But he didn’t think he could walk into any Black Estate with Aurors on his trail. Before forgetting that:

**_Avoid: Aurors Dementors_ **

Then he remembered how he had heard his name in Muggle moving picture box. Basically:

**_Everyone_ **

Sirius wished that there was a way without a wand. He wished he could flick his fingers and transfigure a shelter out of a tree trunk, levitate fish from the water, and light a fire to cook it.

Something in his mind nudged him, not unlike Prongs when they were arrogant schoolboys:

“ _So, do it, Padfoot!_ ” it said. “ _It is only impossible until the Marauders do it._ ”

Flashes of his school time came to his mind. With that, a small joy bloomed inside him. Such a foreign feeling. But it didn’t stay there long. Prongs’ carefree face got distorted and the disappointment on it killed the joy in an instant.

_I don’t deserve it._

Wormtail’s stupid face turned the feeling to anger. Anger stayed with him, longer than any feeling. Any feeling but _fear_.

_No. I need to plan. Concentrate._

Sirius started thinking with the notepad in front of him. If only he had some books, he wished. His brain wasn’t working properly, so he wasn’t certain if he could figure this out. But he tried anyway.

In a new blank page, he started writing. The ancient runes he was formulating were crooked, terrible looking, but making sense somehow.

The formula was simple. Whatever he remembered from magical theory lessons were there.

A wand, in the simplest terms, directs power from the wizard’s magical core. The wand also has its magic from the part of the magical creature inside of it. So, the formula he was compiling needed: power in terms of his own core and additional source, a path for the raw magic flow, the direction of the flow, and focus. In theory, he had everything except the additional magical source. If he was only using his own magical core and nothing else, his spells would tire him but that’s something he could think later.

He used ancient runes and arithmancy to draw the formulation on the paper. It was a miracle he was remembering so much of his studies while memories of people and his experiences were inaccessible. Nevertheless, it took time and a lot of experimenting. But it was something to focus on while traveling to the North. Half lunar cycle later, when he finally levitated small rocks with his formula, he was both ecstatic and exhausted. Then, he started thinking about the additional magical source that would replace the wand’s core.

Thinking about power sources reminded him of his motorbike. The one that he lent to Hagrid to take Harry away on that day. When Sirius had been working on his motorbike, he had learned that muggles also had a similar principle in their vehicles. The fuel was the primary power source for the bike, but there was also the battery that was needed for initiating the usage of the fuel. So, what he needed was a battery. A magical battery. That would hold usable magical energy.

His own magical core or any residual magic should work to feed into this battery when he is not doing magic. And, instead of taking too much from his core when doing spells, he could drain the battery.

By the time he reached Edinburg, his wandless magic formula was much more advanced with an additional magical battery. He could feed the formula with his core when he’s not using magic and use that later without getting tired after a few ‘ _Incendio’s_.

With his newly developed power, Sirius tried summoning various objects including a chocolate cake from a bakery nearby.

“ _Because eating chocolate makes people happy, it is the best remedy for a Dementor attack_ ,” a young Moony cited from a library book on his lap. Sirius hadn’t believed him then, but now he felt somewhat better.

But usage of the wandless formula wasn't easy. It was like he was relearning the magic. He was at most third-grade level with his control. He didn’t even attempt at advanced spells.

But there was something else bugging Sirius. It didn’t look _eloquent_. He was holding a paper in the general direction of the spell, and it felt a little bit ridiculous. The solution to this much troubling problem came in the shape of his moon tattoo. More precisely the tattoo part.

 _“Now they can’t mark me! I’m already marked,”_ a younger version of himself declared triumphantly.

Sirius got this tattoo when... he didn’t remember. The details were fuzzy to him, although he remembered the pain of the needles on his arm in a small muggle shop. The artist inked the grey moon with a detailed surface: the craters and the mountains. Later Sirius had enchanted it to show the phases of the moon with a modified _‘Tempus’_ spell. It was a very elegant piece of magic; he remembered feeling proud. Currently, it was wanning gibbous.

He looked at the tattoo on his forearm, then the paper with runic formula. If it’s drawn on his body, he would never lose it. More importantly, it would look bloody cool.

A muggle tattoo was fine enough. The pen on paper worked fine. It only needed to be exact. The magic comes from the user after all. He should learn a tattooing spell later.

Finding a tattoo shop was not hard but being a wanted man in both wizarding and muggle world wasn’t making this easy. At least in the muggle world, he could disguise himself. He didn’t bother with face transfiguration. Prongs was brilliant at it. Sirius was not that good even with a wand. Simple glamour would work. He posed with short blond hair and cleaned himself with some hygiene charms.

He presented the paper with his design to the artist. It was his first people interaction as a human after Fudge’s visit to Azkaban. He was feeling awfully shy about it. Even making small talk -something that should have been natural to him- was struggling. If the artist was judging his outlook, she didn’t verbalize. They discussed the placement of the design; he endured the pain for hours and left the shop with a bandaged hand.

The payment was with the stolen money he had summoned from the muggle money dispenser. On one hand, it was highly illegal for a wizard to steal money from muggles. On the other hand, he was already a wanted criminal, so whatever.

After he was out of sight, Sirius unwrapped the bandages. His skin was red and tender. He applied a simple anti-inflammatory spell using the paper. The redness vanished. The black ink covered the back of his left hand, runes continued to his index finger, and inside of his wrist. The artist had argued against the hand, however, it needed to be there, for practical reasons.

Over his hand was the circle for the flow and the runes for change, power, and focus were over the triangle which also represented the magical number 3. In the center was the rune for self. On his index finger, there were runes for focus and stream. Inside of his wrist was the magical battery with power and hibernation runes. He could already feel the flow of magic from his core to the battery.

His new tattoo took time to adjust. First, he tweaked the rate of magical flow to the battery, so that it didn’t drain him to death while he was asleep. Then he checked its efficiency using some diagnostic spells.

The feeling of magic streaming through his arm to his hand was powerful. Encouraged by the power he tried the Patronus charm. Unfortunately, there was not even a spark. He didn’t know if the formula was lacking, or…

He still needed a wand. Dueling without one would put him at a disadvantage, even with his formula. Also, he missed the convenience of the apparition. Also, he wanted to be armed for his encounter with Wormtail. The rat killed 12 muggles and didn’t even feel bad about it. He framed Sirius, lied on his face. He was dangerous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I overpower him? Maybe...
> 
> This chapter was info-dump. Next chapter will have some action.


	3. Arcturus’s House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius gets a wand.

With his wandless formula, Sirius’s life on the road towards Hogwarts became much easier. He was not perpetually hungry anymore and had the confidence that he could take on one or two Aurors if he encounters them. Of course, being an unregistered Animagus has its own advantages. So, Sirius decided that it was time to take the risk of getting an actual wand.

And where could he get one? Well… Multiple places with varying degrees of difficulties. One of them was a Black family estate near Hogwarts. It had belonged to Sirius’s grandfather Arcturus. After Orion had become the head of the family, Arcturus moved there for retirement. Now that Arcturus was dead, it technically belonged to Sirius, as the last living Black male; though, he wasn’t sure if the house knew that. There, he could find a few old wands from dead Blacks and some gold.

When Sirius was regarded as the heir -meaning before he was openly rebelling to his parents- they visited Grandfather’s house with dear Mother and Father. Even though it had been decades since his last visit, Padfoot was an excellent tracker, so he located the estate without much struggling.

The overall property was a hectare of forested land, but the house itself was not large. Not large but still highly ornate and luxurious, as expected from The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black.

As he approached the estate border, Padfoot smelled two wizards. Probably the Aurors were already there waiting for the Black heir to assume his properties. Of course, they were. Sirius was a Black. They were expecting him to contact his Death Eater sympathizer family. Who was he going to contact? Narcissa? Bellatrix was in Azkaban. Walburga, Orion, Regulus were dead. Uncle Alphard was dead. _You should have been dead._

The good news is they were unaware of his Animagus form. For 12 years. Moony didn’t tell them _._ _Maybe, maybe_ …

“You should have seen the dive, mate! It was glorious. By glorious, I mean gloriously pathetic. He tried to do Wronski Feint but smashed to the ground! Brilliant. I mean not that I wasn’t expecting anything else from Chudley Cannons.”

One of the Aurors, a young one from his sound, was talking about a British League match to the other one. From the sounds the second one making, he was not particularly into the story or his partner’s retelling.

Sirius listened to them for a while, tried staying calm, and padded towards the house. The talkative Auror was now reciting all the losses the Cannons suffered in detail. The guy was obsessed with Cannons for all the wrong reasons. But Sirius was glad that they didn’t notice his presence.

The outside of the house was in terrible condition. The wards were failing, and they didn’t detect Animagi (although, most of the wizard wards overlook Animagi for some bizarre reason, and werewolves). He didn’t enter from the front door where he could easily be seen. He walked over to the back and saw a window left slightly gapped. He was skinny enough to enter. There was a tingling sensation when he entered the house. He assumed that they must have been the wards.

If the outside had been bad, the inside was much worse. His grandfather didn’t have a house-elf. Well, except Kreacher. But Kreacher was bound to the Grimmauld Place. No one had entered this place since Arcturus’ death, it seemed. The cobwebs were everywhere, there must have been multiple magical pests hiding in the corners, the furniture was eaten by moths.

He transformed and looked around. The good news was that the house did not scream or try to kill him on arrival, so it must have accepted Sirius as its master. When “ _Accio wand_ ” didn’t work he started treasure hunting.

He beelined to the master bedroom looking for something with precious heirlooms. To his surprise, a Ghoul has been living in the master bedroom. The room smelled disgusting, so he moved to the next room.

In the study, he found a locked cabinet. He touched his middle finger to the needle in the middle of the Black family crest on the knob. His blood covered the small chamber, the blood flowed over the crest, and it opened. Typical blood magic.

Inside there were some gold, documents, and jewelry, and more importantly, three wands. Jackpot. Sirius checked the golds and jewels for curses, after finding nothing dangerous he pocketed them. He quickly gave a flick to each. Two of them outright rejected him, causing small explosions, and destroying a chair and side table. A light brown bendy wand responded to his magic better than the other two. Not something he would prefer normally. The wand had no individualism, and he may not be an expert in wandlore but that flexibility was not very trusting. Whoever owned this wand was a wimp. He cast an _“Accio gold”_ to test. And some gold flew to him from various locations.

 _Wimp or no you saved the day dead relative_.

Before he could look for a bag to carry all the gold, Sirius heard the footsteps in the hallway. He focused on Padfoot’s sense of smell and recognized one of the two Aurors. With a quick transfiguration of some parchment to bag, Sirius put away the additional gold and tried disapparition. It didn’t work. _Right. Anti-disapparition charm._

Sirius hid behind the sofa and waited for the wizard to enter the room. As he heard the Auror entering, he rose and sent a stunning spell that got deflected immediately. The Auror was a tall middle-aged man with a dark complexion, his posture was powerful, his clothes looked plain and practical except for the one gold earring. The partner of the talkative bastard.

He must have been good because after dodging and deflecting Sirius’ hexes, he disarmed Sirius with a wordless _Expelliarmus_.

“Fuck.” The Auror pointed his wand to Sirius's face.

“Sirius Black, you are under arrest,” the Auror said with a deep unhurried voice. Sirius, however, caught a short gap in his guard and sent a wandless ' _Stupefy'_. The Auror flew out of the door and crashed to the wall. With a proud smile, Sirius collected his newly acquired wand from the floor and exited the room.

The second Auror was in the hallway with his wand up. This one -as Sirius suspected before- was young and less confident. He was wearing fancy-looking robes and had short length blonde hair. Sirius possibly had just defeated his superior, and now he was afraid of the big bad dark wizard.

_Not so talkative now, are you?_

To play his part Sirius first sent a scary looking but not necessarily dangerous hex that surrounded his opponent in black mist, then stunned him as well.

They probably had called for backup. So, he needed to leave, quickly. He transformed and ran to the forest until he was outside of the anti-apparition charm. As soon as he was out, he apparated to the fisherman’s cabin, safely. They could track his steps, he learned that in the war. To avoid it, he walked into the forest but not before leaving a non-magical gold watch on the door. He needed to repay.

When he was at a safe distance, he apparated again, and again, finally, to the Shrieking Shack. He transformed and fell asleep from exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the books, he doesn't get a wand for a long time. Also, he is seen by muggles not Aurors according to the Daily Prophet.


	4. Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Break-in attempt #1 and a short astronomy lesson.

Being in the Shrieking Shack was familiar. From the scratches on the table to the squeak of the bed frame, or the smell of mold on the walls, everything felt nostalgic. Sirius should have known the stories: How did those claw marks happen on the wardrobe, the closet, and the bookcase? The clustered holes on the wall? The chew marks on the old umbrella stand?

This house was filled with memories. If only he could remember them. But maybe it was better that he couldn’t. All those memories were tainted. Because Wormtail had been with them all the time. And Wormtail betrayed them.

Now, he was close to the rat, he was more anxious than before. Prongs and Lily were dead, but Wormtail was living comfortably in the safety of the castle. Sirius had been in prison for 12 years. But Wormtail was free.

Soon after he woke up, he followed the tunnel to the Whomping Willow. Each step was filled with impatience. As the castle appeared in his view, his heartbeat accelerated. The weather was cloudy and wet, and the smell of earth and pine trees surrounded him. The smell of Hogwarts. The smell of his first favorite place. The first place he felt free. He felt home.

But his teenage home was invested with rats and he was going to do some pest control.

As soon as he figured how to break into the castle.

Infiltration to the Hogwarts ground was easy for Sirius but the castle itself was another issue. It was not called the safest place in Britain for nothing. But that wasn’t the only problem.

The Dementors were on guard around Hogwarts. Padfoot could feel the dread in the air. He tried to get to the castle but after getting closer to two Dementors, Sirius got freaked out so much that he ran for his life to the Forest.

Filled with dangerous creatures and unknown horrors, the Forbidden Forest was a welcoming escape from the Dementors. Padfoot liked the Forest. The full moons his pack spent together there, running freely had been exhilarating.

The Wolf, the Stag, the Rat, and the Dog would run under the light of the moon, play fight, chase rabbits and foxes. Sometimes they would encounter centaurs, acromantulas, and unicorns.

If Padfoot tried enough he could smell the Wolf. Yet, even if he tried his best, the Stag was forever lost to him.

He hid in the deepness of the forest, in a small cave he claimed as his den. There was a centaur herd living close by. One of them, a younger centaur with a gold coat and white-blond hair, would come and be a silent presence at nights for a few hours, just sitting next to him and watching the stars. Sirius didn’t learn if his new friend was aware that he was a wizard. As far as he knew, centaurs were not found of humans, nonetheless, he appreciated the company.

Occasionally, he would leave his den for scouting out the castle. The security was tight. So much trouble for just one dark wizard. In addition to the intimidating number of Dementors, there were many Hit-witches and wizards as well as a few Aurors on guard duty. Some of the faces looked familiar from the war times. Sirius wasn’t going to be able to enter the castle as easily as he thought.

The old passages were either blocked or impossible to use without being seen. Even if he would pass the Hit squat and the Dementors, how would he get into the Gryffindor Tower where the Weasley boy most certainly lived?

Days passed as he was losing his already low patience. Then, the Halloween decorations were everywhere around the castle.

Halloween, once Sirius’s favorite holiday, was now his worst nightmare. He was patrolling in the forest, near the lake, getting closer and closer to the Dementors each day before freaking out and running away as he was still unable to perform the Patronus charm.

Whenever he was sleeping, he was dreaming about that day. He would see Prongs’ dead body, his eyes open and lifeless. If he lifts his head away from his best friend, he would see Lily’s red hair in the nursery, her body lying perfectly still in front of the crib. Harry’s crib. And Hagrid with Harry in his arms. Every night, he was pleading with Hagrid, just to hold Harry, but he knew that he didn’t deserve it. He killed Harry’s parents. He killed Prongs and Lily.

On Halloween evening, Sirius finally said the hell with it and ran to the castle gate. His heart was pounding in his chest, his body was heavy and resisting, but Sirius didn’t stop. With some miracle, the dementors didn’t notice the large black dog running as if its life depended on it. He had to sneak around the guards as he walked through the gate.

The Great Hall was filled with students since it was dinner time. He transformed in a dark corner, put a clumsy disillusionment charm on himself, and walked through the corridors like he did many times before, towards the Gryffindor Tower.

Filch almost caught him on the second floor. Sirius had to hide behind a tapestry with wrestling Hippogriffs. After he misdirected Filch’s attention to the armor at the end of the corridor which he enchanted to dance away, he ran again to the stairs.

In front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, he realized that he didn’t know the password. He attempted to use any other method to enter; he threatened the Fat Lady, slashed the portrait, screamed, but it was futile. When he heard the footsteps closing, he punched the painting for the last time and retreated.

Three guards were at the Gryffindor landing by the time Sirius got to the floor below. It was a good thing that the corridors were empty. He ran to the closest gates. He couldn’t see anyone following him, but he was certain they were. He didn’t transform yet. If they were to find a random black dog, they would get suspicious. He didn’t want to give away his Animagus form. If they got him, he would fight.

Thankfully, they didn’t. When he reached the gates, he transformed and escaped out of the castle into the Forbidden Forest once more.

Following Sirius’s attempt to entering the Gryffindor Common Room, the castle security was increased substantially. Both the number of the Dementors and the guards doubled. And Sirius was more agitated than before. He first blamed his bad luck, then he cursed his impatience, but most of all, he damned his stupidity. Once again, he was a failure.

In the Forbidden Forest, near his den, he screamed at the top of his lungs and destroyed an ancient oak tree. When the centaurs came to investigate the explosions, he had to hide again.

The next night, his centaur friend stayed with him longer. They watched the stars and the nearly full moon together. For the first time, he broke his silence.

“Tonight, Canis Major looks dim; the moon is just too bright,” said the centaur without turning his head from the sky. Padfoot’s ear got up forward and he lifted his head where it was laying on his paws.

“Yes, indeed,” the centaur replied as if he was having a rather fascinating conversation with himself. “Alpha Canis Majoris looks especially weak. But it will not stay like that. The new moon will come, and it will be once again the brightest of all.” He paused long enough that Sirius thought it was all. But the centaur continued.

“As twin stars, with one dying massive twin and the other one bright and young, Sirius tells many stories, for the ones who would listen.”

Padfoot got on his feet, bared his teeth. He was ready to attack anytime, even though his opponent was his triple size. The centaur didn’t even look at him. Without changing his tone, he continued:

“The dying Sirius twin might have been the brightest and most promising in the sky once. Do you think we shall pity it, mourn it? Or shall we celebrate the younger one with a shining future and possibilities ahead of it?”

After he finished speaking, the centaur got up and walked away, into the dark forest. Sirius stared after him for a long time, thinking what the words meant, the rage already forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Sirius won the duel against one of the best Aurors, the security in Hogwarts is stronger than what it is in the books. DMLE is not underestimating him at all. The outcome is the same though.


	5. Quidditch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius watches a match, then goes shopping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Happy Halloween~

A week after his break-in attempt, on a rainy cold day, Sirius saw the students walking towards the quidditch pitch in masses. He followed them, albeit from a distance, to the pitch that was decorated in lions and badgers.

Sirius wondered if Harry was playing. Harry was only in his 3rd year. But Prongs was already on the team in his 2nd year. If Harry were anything like his father, he would be great. Prongs was a brilliant chaser. He would have gone pro if there wasn’t any war. _Prongs would be alive if there wasn’t any war_.

Sirius too was in the team. From 4th year to 5th, until he was kicked out. He was never the best, but he was a passable beater. Quidditch was not his thing; he was just humoring Prongs when he went for the trials. But they had the best time while on the team.

Padfoot waited until after the game started to climb up to the bleachers. His eyes found Harry almost instantly in the storm. He was a natural. A seeker. And he was brilliant. Padfoot’s heart was warming despite the cold wind.

The match was a hard one. Gryffindor team was winning but when the storm became unflyable referee signaled a break.

Minutes after the teams were in the air again, Harry was looking more confident on his broom, and for a moment their eyes met. Or Sirius thought so. He hid under the seat in a haste.

Then, everything got colder. When he got his head up, he saw Harry falling. He froze. In the back of his mind, he knew he had to do something. _Save Harry_. But all he could do was watch as his Godson fell to the ground. Until after someone cast Patronus, Sirius could move again. He ran to the Pitch ground and listened to the students surrounding Harry.

“Is he OK?”

“Lucky, the ground was soft.”

“He will be fine, but they are taking him to the Hospital Wing.”

“Where is his broom?”

While they were taking the unconscious Harry to the Hospital Wing, Padfoot, followed them as far as he could. When they passed through the castle gates Padfoot walked back to the edge of the forest.

After a while, 3 red-haired students came towards the Whomping Willow and started to collect some wood scattered around the tree. Sirius realized two things. One: the boys were the family Wormtail was staying with, Weasleys. Wormtail’s smell was coming strongly from the younger of the three. And two: the wood they were collecting was whatever left from Harry’s broom.

Harry was hurt, Gryffindor had lost, and his broom was broken. He wanted to visit his Godson, give him some kind of comfort. But he couldn’t even do that.

Harry needed a new broom. That he could do. _And_ _Christmas is close._

He didn’t even have to go to Gringotts since he had gold. He just needed to go to a broom shop and buy a broom. But how to evade the DMLE?

Maybe he could just do an owl order. But for that, he needed an owl.

The next day, after the operation was planned out, he walked through the passage under Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. There, in front of a mirror, he meticulously transfigured his face and his clothes to something unnoticeable. Brown hair, brown eyes, round face, large nose, black-brown robes, and gloves to cover his tattoos. It took over 3 hours to get the disguise completed. Transfiguration of the face was hard; with a wimpy wand, it was harder.

Usually, a simple ' _Finite'_ can reverse the transfiguration-based disguise, but it doesn’t have a time-limit problem like Polyjuice potion. On the other hand, the Dementors could detect him even with the disguise so he didn’t want to use the owl post in Hogsmeade.

As exciting as this game of escaping from authorities was, Sirius was getting tired of it. He had to figure out a stable way of disguise. Unfortunately, his knowledge of wards wasn’t enough. _As soon as I find a library, the key to freedom will be the first thing to research_.

When he was ready, he apparated to Diagon Alley. Even if the Aurors were on duty at Diagon Alley, they shouldn’t be expecting him to shop in Quality Quidditch Supplies, should they? And it seemed that their focus was on the school.

Sirius, with all the confidence he could gather, walked towards the shop trying to look not suspicious.

When they were in Hogwarts, Prongs would drag them in this shop for various broom supplies, cleaning kits, gloves, and oil every year when they were doing school shopping. Wormtail would be always on their tail. Moony, though, would slip away and escape into Flourish and Blotts.

On the showcase, there was the most beautiful broom Sirius has ever seen. Ash handle, birch twigs, 0 to 150 miles per hour in 10 seconds. A Firebolt. “Price on request” said the label.

He entered the shop and asked for the Firebolt. The shop assistant eyed him skeptically as he muttered “200 Galleons,” as he wasn’t expecting Sirius to be a serious buyer. 

Sirius didn’t know the current economy or the inflation rates to have a sense of how pricy it was. Even before, as a rich kid, he had rarely looked at the prices.

He could almost see Moony with a mocking bow and a ridiculous accent saying, “ _Your highness!_ ”

200 Galleons didn’t mean anything to him but a quick look at the prices proved that it was the most expensive item in the shop. But Prongs would have loved to get his hands on this broom, he was certain. Surely, his son would also love it. It would be a modest present for 12 years of birthdays and Christmases.

He paid using all his gold and instructed the very surprised looking salesclerk to owl it to Harry Potter at Hogwarts. He hoped that the extra tip was enough for the salesclerk’s discretion.

Sirius considered writing a note, but someone could recognize his handwriting. And also, what would he write?

_Dear Harry,_

_I know you think I’m a mass murderer Death Eater but I’m also your Godfather._

_Merry Christmas,_

_Sirius Black_

Hah. No.

He left the alley quickly afterward and apparated back to the Shack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the number of kudos increases, so does my anxiety.  
> I hope you don’t have high expectations out of this mess. It’s pretty self-indulgent.


	6. Crookshanks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hogwarts break-in attempt #2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a week...  
> Anyway.  
> Happy belated birthday to Sirius Black!

On a snowy morning during the holidays, Sirius saw Remus for the first time after twelve years. He was taking a walk along the lake when he smelled Moony. Padfoot had been picking up Moony’s scent since he had arrived at Hogwarts; he was almost convinced that it was just his imagination.

Here he was only hundreds of feet away from his old friend.

Was it okay to call him a friend though? Didn’t he betray Moony? Accused him of something terrible, and then caused the death of his best friends? The guilt was eating Sirius inside.

Remus hasn’t reported him, as far as Sirius knows. The Dementors and Aurors were not looking for a dog Animagus. Why though? Did Remus not think he is guilty?

Remus didn’t look for him for twelve years either. But it didn’t matter. Sirius was now out and Wormtail needed to die. Afterward, he would go to Moony and explain. Moony would listen. He was sure of it. He will make sure of it.

Remus Lupin looked older than 33 years old. His hair was graying, he was using a cane for walking, and he looked so tired.

The last transformation -it was two days ago- must have taken too much energy. The bones getting broken and reshaping twice a night would do that to a person. Remus Lupin had never been the most energetic guy out there, but he was full of life. _Except during the war_ , Sirius’s mind reminded him.

Sirius watched him as Moony was watching the Lake. He must have heard something because he turned around and looked towards the bushes where Sirius was hiding. Sirius retreated to the shadows and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

He would see Moony again. He would talk to him, Moony would understand.

* * *

After the holidays, Sirius gained a new friend. It was a cat. An orange, flat-faced, intelligent cat.

The cat recognized that Padfoot was a wizard. He approached Padfoot, first when he was dog-shaped, then when he was people-shaped, requesting a petting both times. Sirius realized that if he really tried, he could talk to the cat.

Although he couldn’t get Cat’s name, he could understand the threat Cat was trying to communicate.

“A rat, you say?” he asked. “You saw Wormtail? You know that he’s Animagus as well?”

Cat held their eye contact and gave an affirmative meow. Sirius continued with his petting.

“Wormtail should be in Gryffindor dormitory. I need a way to enter the dorms. But I don’t have the password.” Cat began to purr. He was pushing his head into Sirius’s hand.

“You will help? How?” Whatever Cat planned he didn’t understand but the next month Cat arrived with a piece of parchment. A parchment with passwords.

“How did you get this?” Sirius asked with astonishment.

As far as Sirius gathered, Wormtail, afraid of being eaten by Cat, faked his own death for the second time in his life. Cat was very annoyed about this. Wormtail could have been still in the dorms; so, Cat stole the parchment with passwords from the boy’s dormitory for Sirius.

Sirius was sure that Cat was the most intelligent -well- cat he has ever seen. _He must be part Kneazle to be this intelligent_ , Sirius thought. Lily also had a cat. He wondered what happened to her.

With the heavy security, infiltering the castle took some planning. At night, hundreds of Dementors were patrolling very close to the castle and the gates were locked, so he had to enter during the day. At daytime, however, the Hit-wizards and witches were guarding the gates, so that was also out of question. He could use the Hogsmeade passages, but the Dementors were always in the village, ad Sirius was trying to avoid them as possible as he can. That left him with very narrow options. One of which was through the passage under the Great Lake.

The Marauders found this passage accidentally on their sixth year when Prongs had fallen from the window on the corridor that leads to the headmaster’s office after a prank went wrong. They never used it after its discovery because merpeople were not happy to share their habitat with a bunch of teenage Animagi and a werewolf.

If you use the bubble-head charm or hold your breath about three minutes and avoid all the dangerous creatures that want to kill you, you can swim to the tunnel that leads to a small but airy opening. From there, all you must do is walk in circles while singing the song of merpeople which is basically just screaming on top of your lungs. Then, you can walk through the wall into a room in the dungeons and all you have to do is avoid the jinks and hexes thrown by Slytherins.

After Prongs discovered the tunnel, they had spent two weeks to investigate the rest. They had to cancel the prank. This tunnel was the last addition to the map.

On the next full moon, he finally got his opportunity.

In the afternoon, when most of the students were in class, Padfoot jumped into the Great Lake and while immersed in water he immediately transformed. He cast a warming charm to ease the sharp cold of February. Sirius swam through the dancing seaweeds, stunned a few Grindylows, and hissed at a merperson until he reached the opening. He dried his robes and sat down on the floor waiting for the night.

Sirius cast a ' _Tempus'_ with a flick of his hand. It was midnight. He transformed to check if anyone was near. When Padfoot didn’t smell anyone, Sirius walked in circles and screamed.

Unfortunately, the room in the dungeons was one of the farthest from the Gryffindor Tower. Padfoot had to walk through the whole castle until he reached the Fat Lady Portrait. He used the darkness to his advantage. Most of the portraits were already asleep, and if they were not, they wouldn’t be able to see a black dog in dark corridors. And whenever he smelled actual people close by, he changed his direction or hid in classrooms and broom cabinets.

The Fat Lady was not in her portrait. Instead, Sir Cadogan, a mad knight from another painting was on duty. Sirius transformed and took out the parchment Cat retrieved for him from his pocket.

“What is the password, good sir?” asked Sir Cadogan, self-importantly.

Sirius started to read the passwords one by one. On the correct one, Sir Cadogan congratulated him and opened the passage.

Being in the Gryffindor Tower felt nostalgic. It had been 15 years since he had been there. The common room looked just as he remembered, with lush reds and bright golds, it looked welcoming and warm.

He turned into Padfoot to get the scent of Wormtail and followed it to a boy’s dorm room. When he was outside the door, he caught another scent. It was Harry. Wormtail was in the same room as Harry.

He transformed, took out his wand, and entered the dark room. He could hear the snoring from a few of the boys. Wormtail’s smell was coming from one of the beds. He walked towards it before waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark.

He cut the curtains of the four-poster bed and held the wand ready to kill the rat but hesitated when the red-haired boy, Weasley, turned in his bed. Wormtail wasn’t there. Hesitantly, he took a step back but his foot hit something noisy. Weasley woke up and saw Sirius. As the boy screamed Sirius ran out of the room, down the stairs and he was out of the Common Room in seconds.

The whole castle would be searching for him in a few minutes. The main gates were locked and guarded; most of the passages that he checked before were closed. His entryway was too far.

He put disillusionment charm on himself and tried his chance with the Hogsmeade passages. If he could get out of the castle, he might get a chance with Aurors. He walked to the fifth-floor corridor of the east wing, but two Hit-wizards were coming his way. He went downstairs to the third floor and used the passage through the hump of the hump-backed witch statue. When he got to the other side, Sirius pushed the trap door to the cellar of Honeydukes, sneaked to the back door, and exited to the street.

He immediately turned into Padfoot, and ran to the Forbidden Forest, trying not to be bothered with the Dementors patrolling the streets.

* * *

Another failure in Kill Wormtail Plan resulted in more strict security measures for the Hogwarts castle. There was no way Sirius could enter the school anymore. His only hope was to find Wormtail outside of the castle.

Cat was also unhappy by the events.

“I must be in my peak condition if I’m disappointing even the cats,” Sirius tried to joke.

But Cat just flew from his hands and sat 5 feet away, doing a good job showing Sirius his annoyance.

* * *

Next two months, Padfoot was just walking around in Forbidden Forest, near the lake, outside of Hogsmeade, just to see if he could detect Wormtail’s scent. He was avoiding the cave he was staying in after the chat he had with his centaur friend.

He also visited Hagrid a few times. The first time Hagrid saw Padfoot, before the holidays, he had stroked his fur behind his ears, taken him to his Hut, fed him a raw steak, and cleaned his fur. Although it was all nice and cozy with Hagrid, and he could have stayed there be a pet dog and enjoy Hogwarts grounds, he had a mission and his pride. So, he only visited the half-giant occasionally, when he had enough of living off rat meat.

Hagrid seemed to be working on his own problems but whenever Padfoot showed up, he was kindly sharing his food and house. Around April a hippogriff got tied next to the Hut, so Padfoot decided not to approach anymore. He wasn’t going to take his chance with an adult hippogriff if he could help it.

After the Easter Holiday, he watched Harry winning a spectacular victory with his new broom. Cat informed him that at first, his human was very skeptical about the Firebolt broom. They must have figured that it was from Sirius. Nonetheless, he was glad that it passed the inspections and was used in the match.

A month later, Padfoot was relaxing by the lake with Cat. He was surprised to see Cornelius Fudge, Albus Dumbledore, and two more people visiting Hagrid’s Hut. According to Cat, Hagrid was sad because the hippogriff was going to be killed. So, it was today. Which also explained Hagrid’s unusual behavior for the past two months.

Padfoot’s attention went from the ministry officials to behind the Hut almost immediately as he picked up a scent. He found Wormtail. He jumped on his feet and run towards it. Cat followed his suit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is in Remus's POV.


	7. Lupin I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat, Rat, Dog, and the Servant of Lord Voldemort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also, Moony the unreliable author.  
> Underlined: direct quotation from the books.

_The map never lies_.

Remus was turning over the sentence in his mind over and over like a ritual incantation that would soothe away all his fears.

 _The map never lies_. _Peter was alive. Sirius didn’t kill him._

He was trying to slow down his thought process to not jump to any wrong conclusions, forcing himself to look at the facts and ignore his emotions. He has been trying this since he had seen Peter’s name on the map.

Peter -funny, sweet, loyal Little Pete- was alive, and in Hogwarts in Hagrid’s Hut, with Harry and his friends. Why was he in Hogwarts? Why didn’t he tell anything about his supposed murder by Sirius? Why was he pretending to be dead?

_Why did you let me mourn your death? Let me believe my best friend killed you?_

If Peter - _Peter_ who would bring chocolate frogs to Remus in Hospital Wing after full moons, and eat half of them later in their dorm- was alive, would that be enough evidence for Sirius’s innocence? The innocence that Remus has been hoping to believe for all those years… Yes, he still was.

If someone were to ask Remus, “Do you think that Sirius Black is capable of killing 13 people?” He would say “yes”.

If they were to ask him, “Do you think that Sirius Black betrayed Potters?” He would still say “yes” but in his heart, he would know that he is lying. Hell, the wolf knows that he is lying.

For 12 years, Remus Lupin hated himself for hoping that his friend was innocent. He hated that for all evidence against Sirius, he still couldn’t believe that Padfoot could ever betray Prongs. He tried to justify Sirius’s guiltiness by his cruelty, his vengefulness, his anger, his natural affinity to the dark magic, his family, his brother’s death… To be honest, the flaws of Sirius Black were not lacking. But none of those explained what everyone was saying.

And the wolf knew this. While Remus was grieving Peter, the wolf was grieving for Sirius. The full moons following Potters’ death had been terrible. Remus had never made peace with Moony, the beast inside him. But after… After _that_ , the wolf was more violent than ever. He would wake up in his basement bloody and miserable, and cry hours without knowing if it was because of the pain or the sorrow.

And this job has been the best thing that happened to him. The potion was working miracles. For months, the wolf was hidden. But Remus was still full of nervousness and shame. He was feeling like he was betraying Dumbledore’s benevolence. Since the moment he read Sirius’s escape from Azkaban in Daily Prophet, Remus was treacherously withholding information -the information which would be crucial to Sirius’s capture- selfishly protecting himself while putting James’s son in danger.

 _The map never lies_. Wormtail was alive and extremely close to Ron Weasley. He was in rat form, of course. Remus stared at the map.

Wormtail -crafty, nimble Wormtail who would easily find all escape routes- was a rat.

_Could it be?_

But how? What happened? Sirius had been the secret keeper. That was what he had told Remus. Had he lied?

By then, the two of them were scarcely talking, only seeing each other in Order meetings. Even that was not frequent as Remus’s assignments were long and top-secret even for the other members.

_Damn all those secrets._

Sirius was behaving cold. That time, Remus had been thinking that it was because Sirius knew that he was lying. After James’s death, he had thought it was because Sirius was the spy. Now though… it was probably because Sirius thought Remus was the spy. He felt nauseous.

Wormtail was _the_ _rat_.

His heart was beating too fast as he inspected the map. _The Marauders’ Map never lies_. And Padfoot was moving towards Wormtail and the trio.

Remus jumped from his chair and ran outside as soon as he saw where Sirius was taking Wormtail and Ron towards.

He was already by the Whomping Willow when he realized that he had left the Map open on his desk. He didn’t stop to get nostalgic with the Shrieking Shack as he entered the bedroom where the voices were coming. He hated the place anyway.

A quick look into the room told him anything he needed to know. He swiftly disarmed Harry and Hermione who were holding their wands on Sirius. Sirius who was lying on the ground. With a cat sitting on his chest.

Sirius Black looked terrible. He looked like he was starved to death. His hair was long, messy, and dirty. His beard was also long and unkept. There were newly developing bruises on his face, his lip was busted, and his teeth were bloody. The rags he was wearing were worse than anything Remus owned.

Sirius Black looked wretched.

Sirius Black had never looked wretched. He was always elegant in a rebellious way. His clothes were always looked the best even though they were mostly muggle t-shirts and jeans. His hair would always look like he had spent hours in front of the mirror. If he was not cleaned shaved, his stubble would look neat. Most importantly his face would carry an effortless glee and his grey eyes would smile with mischief.

But this Sirius Black spent 12 years in Azkaban.

Everyone in the room was looking to Remus, but his attention was all on Sirius as he took his shocked expression in. He tried to calm himself as he asked:

“Where is he, Sirius?”

Sirius didn’t say anything, just held his claw-like hand with broken and dirty nails toward the bed where Ron who seemed to be also hurt was sitting.

“Of course. The fucking rat,” he muttered to himself.

_The map never lies._

He turned to Sirius who was still on the ground. The cat was out of his chest. Sirius’s hollow eyes were fixed on Remus’s face. Remus held his hand to his friend, brought him standing and without stopping the movement, to his embrace. Or what has left of him anyway. Sirius melted in his arms. His body was so thin, Remus was afraid of crushing him. But Sirius was holding on to him so dearly he didn’t let go until Hermione started shouting.

* * *

As Remus told the tale of Marauders to his students who had gotten their wands back, Sirius seemed to be lost in his thoughts, his eyes never leaving the squirming Wormtail in Ron’s hand. Not until after the second time he mentioned Snape, Sirius looked up.

“Snape? What’s Snape got to do with it?”

Remus never felt the hostility James and Sirius felt towards Snape. He didn’t like the guy, but he didn’t hate him either. But he was afraid of Snape in their school days. He would always ask prying questions, and stalk them in the castle, and be generally obsessed with Remus’s condition. Then the Prank happened, and Remus was terrified of Snape.

Remus didn’t talk to Sirius for months after the event. James had taken Remus’s side at first but then forgiven Sirius for his teenage recklessness. Remus had resisted for a few more months but no one can truly resist the charms of the famous Sirius Black. He had forgiven Sirius as he would do every time - even when he thought Sirius killed his best friends.

Yet, Sirius had never been truly remorseful.

He was explaining the animosity between Snape and the Marauders when Snape revealed himself under James’s -Harry’s- Invisibility Cloak with a raised wand.

Snape was not listening to what Remus was saying -or trying to say- and his words were filled with the hatred from a decade-old business.

Sirius on the other hand was suspiciously silent and still watching Peter as if he didn’t care that his old nemesis was in the room.

Being unarmed proved unwise as Snape conjured ropes to bind and silence him. But before he could continue his monolog about how he was going to give both Remus and Sirius to the Dementors, his wand flew away from his hands into Sirius’s. And Sirius stormed to Snape across the room and punched him in the face. Snape crushed to the wall unconscious with a bloody nose. How a 50 kg sick man can punch an 80 kg one, strong enough to knock him out, Remus didn’t know.

Sirius nursed his bloody hand in pain as he swore under his breath that might have been “Fucking Snivellus”.

The kids were in shock as they kept looking between their Potions’ master and the violent convict. Remus himself was focused solely on Sirius. Sirius wiped his knuckles on his shirt. Remus then noticed the tattoo on the back of Sirius’s hand.

With a wave of Sirius’s tattooed hand, the bindings around Remus dissolved into nothingness. He stood up as his joints were aching.

“How?” he tried to form a full sentence in which he was going to ask, ‘how did you do that without a wand, you complete lunatic?’ but couldn’t finish.

“I can explain later,” Sirius grunted impatiently. “Are you done with your tale? Can we kill him now?”

Both Harry and Hermione gathered themselves and were pointing their wands at Sirius while Ron was holding Wormtail onto his chest with fear for his pet.

“You just punched a professor, now you want to kill Scabbers?!” Ron cried.

“As I was saying, they didn’t like each other,” Remus replied nonchalantly while he kneeled beside Snape to check for injuries.

“Did you stun him?” he asked Sirius who was giving murderous looks to the squirming rat in Ron’s hand.

Sirius grunted in reply. Remus hummed, impressed.

“Just a broken nose. Your Potion’s master is alright. But I think it’s best if we didn’t wake him up yet,” he informed the kids, as he stood again. “Ron, please hand over Scabbers, we won’t hurt him if he is not Wormtail,” he said in his professor's voice.

“Why do you think it’s Scabbers? Say Pettigrew could turn into a rat -there are millions of rats- how’s he supposed to know which one he’s after if he was locked up in Azkaban?” Ron asked firmly.

“You know, Sirius, that’s a fair question. How did you figure it out?” he asked curiously.

Sirius showed them the Daily Prophet news with the Weasley family photograph or rather shoved the wrinkled paper to their faces. Remus immediately noticed the missing finger of the rat. After Peter’s supposed death, the only thing they could find was a single finger.

For all the arguments against Scabbers, they still couldn’t convince Harry.

“YOU WERE THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! YOU BETRAYED THEM! YOU CONFESSED THAT YOU KILLED THEM!” He shouted his godfather with so much anger.

It was the first time seeing so much guilt in Sirius’s eyes.

“Harry,” Sirius said with a voice a little louder than a whisper, “I as good as killed them. I convinced your parents to choose Peter as the secret-keeper instead of me. It’s my fault, I know that. …”

That confirmed what Remus was thinking previously. Sirius had switched the secret-keepers but lied to Remus. Sirius hadn’t trusted him. He had thought Remus was the spy. It hurt more than he thought it would.

“That’s enough.” He held his hand to Ron for the rat, “Ron, give that rat to me. One way to prove it all.”

With Sirius, they forced Wormtail to transform.

"Well, hello, Peter," he said with forced pleasantry, even though he was furious with hatred towards the man he once called best friend. "Long time, no see."

* * *

They listened to Wormtail’s lies and excuses long enough.

“You don’t understand. He would have killed me, Sirius!” Wormtail whined finally.

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED! DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" roared Sirius.

That sealed the deal.

“You should’ve realized, if Voldemort wouldn’t kill you, we would,” Remus said, feeling calm despite knowing what he was going to do in a few seconds. “Goodbye, Peter.” He raised his wand with an Unforgivable on tip of his tongue.

But Harry stopped him.

Remus realized not for the first time that how good the new generation was. The Marauders, they weren’t bad people- well except Wormtail. But they could be ruthless and unkind. Harry, on the other hand, was trying to save both Wormtail’s and Remus’s life even when amongst them he had the most right to be angry.

Remus dropped his wand. They covered Ron’s broken leg for the walk back to the castle. Remus and Ron chained themselves to Wormtail with the heavy chains Sirius had conjured. All of them and a levitated unconscious Snape left the Shack.

As they exited the tunnel, the full moon was shining above, between the clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Remus at the beginning](https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/82302557/facts-dont-care-about-your-feelings.jpg) (i’m sorry).  
> Also, how do you write tenses? I gave up during the editing and reversed everything to simple past tense.  
> Finally (mostly) done with PoA. The next chapter needs some work and I’m busy with real-world stuff, so there will be a few weeks before the next update.


	8. Prison Break 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On June 6th, 1994, Sirius gets captured and then escapes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter specific warnings: suicidal thoughts, very briefly.

"Are you mad? Of course, I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Sirius felt like he never had felt for 13 years. The acceptance by Harry meant worlds for him. Even with Peter alive, he felt _content_. The bruises on his face or his chest didn’t hurt anymore. All the tiredness lifted from his body. He was already dreaming about a two-story townhouse in London where he would live with Harry. Remus would visit them and have a room for himself. Harry’s friends would come over from time to time and the house would fill with joyful clatters.

 _Maybe_ , Sirius thought, maybe, his centaur friend was right. _Maybe_ , the future was not as dark as he thought it to be.

His fantasies cut short when he saw Remus fell on his knees. For a moment he didn’t understand what was going on, then, he felt his blood getting drained.

“Run,” he tried. “Run!”

Hermione screamed about Remus not getting his potion. Sirius stepped forward to get in between Remus and the kids but Ron was still chained to Peter with Remus, and still hurt because of him. Sirius vanished the chains hastily and pulled Ron behind him with Harry and Hermione.

“RUN NOW” was all he could shout before he transformed and placed himself between the kids and still changing Moony. The agonizing sounds of cracking bones and cries of his friend brought back the memories of his first time witnessing the change. He didn’t even notice Wormtail escaping into the darkness of the night.

When Moony fully transformed, his first attempt was to bite the unconscious Snape behind him. Padfoot jumped forward and closed his jaw into Moony’s neck. He tasted blood on his tongue but didn’t let go. Moony cried in pain and scratched Padfoot’s belly in return. The wound stung and Padfoot had almost let go before he heard Harry’s screaming his name behind. Without loosening his jaw, Padfoot dragged the wolf with him towards the Forest.

Being this close to many humans was making Moony more aggressive. If he lost his grip for a single moment, he wasn’t sure if he could stop the werewolf from hurting anyone. Moony was struggling in his mouth. He was clawing and trying to bite back. When they were far enough for Padfoot to not smell the kids anymore and only the blood, he let go.

The dog and the wolf wrestled for a long time. Moony was trying to run into the castle grounds, while Padfoot was trying to hold him back. But Padfoot was tried and hurt even before their fight. And Moony was mighty. Moony’s final attack left him bleeding and hurt.

He transformed back, unwillingly.

He was lying on the ground and barely conscious when the Dementors attacked.

* * *

Dark. Cold. Hopeless. And prisoned. And captive, again. Pain spiraling inside him. He wants it to end. Shivering. Coldness. And. Dark.

* * *

_“It’s all your fault!”_

_“YOU KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!”_

_“You don’t care, you don’t think! You are a cruel, selfish bastard!”_

Sirius shivered holding his knees close to his chin. He didn’t even try to escape. Why bother? It wouldn’t do anything. The Dementors were coming for him. They were always coming for him. To give the Kiss. The final Kiss. To end it all. And he found himself accepting that.

Just a few hours ago he was over the clouds. For a second, he believed. How stupid of him. If he were a star, he is the dead star.

But then, Harry came for him. He first thought it was another hallucination. Just like when he thought of seeing Prongs after the Dementors came for him. Then, he realized that Harry was talking to him.

“… with us. Sirius, come on!” Harry was saying as he tugged his arm.

Sirius let Harry get him to stand up. He finally noticed the blown-up window, a Hippogriff flying outside of his cell, and Harry’s friend on the back of the creature. Sirius got closer to the Hippogriff, but Harry made him stop before he could get close.

“You need to bow first,” he informed.

 _Right_. Hippogriffs are very proud creatures. Sirius bowed respectfully before the giant beast. A few seconds later, it bowed as well, still flapping its large wings.

“His name is Buckbeak. Buckbeak, this is Sirius,” Harry introduced them.

“Hop on, quickly,” this time it was Harry’s friend, Hermione, who was talking. She held her hand, Sirius reached over the window for it and seated behind her with a small jump. As soon as Harry got on as well behind him, Buckbeak flew away from Sirius’s cell and soared through the sky above the lake. Harry cast a Patronus, “As a precaution,” he explained. Sirius watched in awe as the magnificent silver stag materialized before them.

“Prongs,” he whispered.

“I know! Like my dad’s Animagus form, right?” Harry said excitedly.

“It’s James’s Patronus, too.”

They landed outside of Hogwarts near the shore of the Great Lake. Harry got off first, Sirius second, Hermione with help of Sirius the last.

“Sirius,” Harry said in a rush, “You need to leave. Take Buckbeak with you. He was sentenced to death. We got him away, but he cannot be captured again. Like you.” He said the last part in a whisper.

“I understand. We will take care of each other. Right, Buckbeak?” He stroked the Hippogriff’s neck. Buckbeak placed his head to Sirius’s chest with closed eyes.

“We need to go,” Hermione said. Sirius turned to them.

“I can’t thank you enough, Harry, Hermione. I owe you my soul, my life. And-” he hesitated for a moment, “-please give Ron my apologies.”

Harry threw his arms around Sirius. Sirius slowly hugged his Godson back.

“Goodbye, Sirius,” he said as he let go. Hermione, too, gave him a quick hug.

“Goodbye. You are —truly your father’s son, Harry...”

Sirius hopped on Buckbeak’s back, and they took off towards the southeast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a short chapter because I divided a long one into two. So, those of you asking for godfather/godson quality time must wait a little bit more. Next chapter, we are going international!


	9. International Relations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventures of Sirius and Buckbeak in the summer of 1994

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I’ve never been to any of these places and I don’t know any French or Latin. So, if you think something sounds wrong, it probably is wrong. Please educate me so I can correct them.
> 
> ~~Happy New Year!~~

Buckbeak landed in a forest in the south. They had flown for a long time and Sirius’s mind had been blank for the entire trip. Buckbeak left Sirius by a river and took off again to hunt. Sirius transformed and went to restless sleep.

He realized how hungry he was when Buckbeak returned not long after with a dead hare. He left his kill in front of Sirius’s feet, stepped back, and sat under a tree to rest. Sirius smiled at his companion’s thoughtfulness. Feeling that he had to reciprocate the kindness, he started to work.

First, he transfigured a knife, a bowl, and a shelter from the woods and the animals around them. He had lost the wimpy wand, but his runic formula was more than enough. Well- the bowl still had its beak and was cooing occasionally, but it was functional.

He filled the bowl with water for Buckbeak and started a fire. He set up some wards to keep wild animals and unwanted humans away. And finally sat down and prepared his meal. When he was done eating the wild hare, he curled next to Buckbeak and allowed himself to reflect upon what happened for the first time since they said goodbye to Harry and his friend.

Once again, Sirius Black was a fugitive.

But he didn’t feel as miserable as before. Sure, Wormtail had escaped, and the Dementors had almost got him -Sirius shivered at the thought- but he wasn’t alone anymore.

He petted Buckbeak’s feathers. The Hippogriff opened his eyes to check on Sirius and turned his head away to continue his leisure time.

He had allies as well. Harry. His godson. His savior. He smiled when he thought of Harry. He was beyond anything Sirius could imagine. He looked just like his father. His temper though was all Lily. Brave and kind, Harry was the perfect combination of his parents.

_You would be so proud Prongs._

And Moony... He didn’t realize how big of a burden was the uncertainty of Remus’s trust until it was lifted. He touched the tattoo on his right forearm absentmindedly.

There were also Harry’s friends, Hermione, and Ron. And even Dumbledore believed him, as he learned from Hermione.

Now a two-time escapee, the ministry would be much more eager to capture him. And when he is captured, they wouldn’t wait to give him to the Dementors like they did the previous day. For his own and Buckbeak’s sakes, they had to leave the country -until he could find a safe way to return. Getting his freedom back was out of the picture with Wormtail gone. He wasn’t so mad to hope for three teenagers’ and one werewolf’s testament to be sufficient.

“Where do you want to go Buckbeak?” he asked out loud. “We can go to the north to the Nordics, west to the States, east to Greece, or south to Spain. The world is our oyster!”

The Hippogriff made a noise which clearly meant, ‘how would I know?’.

“Yeah, I figured. Where are we anyway?” he asked. He thought they were in the south from the direction of their flight, but he wasn’t even sure how long they traveled. The whole trip felt like dream.

“ _Locus revelare._ ”

The spell returned somewhere in Wales. He may not know the airspeed velocity of a laden Hippogriff, but they must have traveled for about 10 hours straight. Sirius regarded Buckbeak with respect.

If they keep going this fast, they could easily escape from the operational area of the British Ministry of Magic in a day. Sure, the Ministry could coordinate with the International Wizarding Union, but not every country had an extradition treaty with the British Ministry. And even for the countries with extradition treaties, those protocols would need a couple of days to get activated.

Sirius made a mental list of the things he needed before he could get back to his Godson:

Gold. _“Gold opens the doors”_ , his grandfather would tell. As much as he hated the dude, he had to agree. He needed to get access to his vault in Gringotts.

A library. A large one with good information on concealing spells and disguise charms. And hopefully many other things. He needed to figure out a stable way on how to evade the Ministry and the Dementors.

A wand. Again. But this time he was going to get a proper one that had chosen him.

Good thing he knows a place to easily access these items: Paris, Blacks’ favorite vacation destination.

Sirius was 15 when the last time he had been to France. Each summer they would visit their relatives’ place in Paris, attend fancy balls, and do boring shopping. Thanks to these and the ridiculous upper-class education he got as heir to the Black dynasty before going to Hogwarts, he was fluent in French. Well… he had been before. He didn’t have the opportunity to practice for almost 20 years.

There was a Gringotts branch at Rue Violette, the Diagon Alley of Paris. So, the gold part was covered. If he could get in La Grande Bibliothèque de Magie, the library part was good as well.

The problem with wands is that they are easily trackable. The trace doesn’t work with adults but, as soon as Sirius gets one, the Ministry would be notified of his location. So, he needed to find an underground wand seller. He could ask around for this in Paris too.

Feeling satisfied with his plan, he poked Buckbeak.

“What do you say to go east, my friend?”

* * *

Buckbeak dropped him off in a park nearby Rue Violette and took off with a promise of coming back when called. Sirius then transformed and walked towards his first destination: Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Paris branch.

Rue Violette looked the same as always. Unlike its name, the street itself was more of beige than purple. Cute small stores, happy classical music, and the smell of delicious pastries… Padfoot was the dirtiest thing in the clean street.

The Paris branch of Gringotts was smaller than their headquarters in London but the bank was easily the largest building in the street. He transformed back in a dark corner and tried to straighten up a little. When his fingers stuck in the impossible tangles of his long hair, he gave up.

The absence of the wanted posters, got him encouraged, so he held his head above and entered the bank.

The whole thing was so easy, it felt fishy. The goblin at the counter didn’t flinch when he introduced himself. They did an identity check using blood magic and gave him the amount he requested in a pouch and sent him on his way. One out of three accomplished. Simple.

He felt so relieved, that he took this opportunity to get himself some stuff before moving on with his mission. First, he purchased one set of wizarding robes, a pair of muggle trousers, and a shirt, then he got a pair of light shoes. The vanished his old clothes except for the coat he stole from the muggle fisherman. Sirius also got an expandable bag to carry his new stuff around.

He was going to a pastry shop when he passed by an owl shop. The tiniest gray owl that he has ever seen was making merry noises to whoever passing by. Sirius stopped in front of the shop to play with it. An owl wasn’t on his shopping list, but maybe if he got himself a reliable long-distance owl or a common non-suspecting barn owl, it would be a safe way to communicate with Harry.

Sirius was holding the tiny bird in his palm when his eyes met with a stranger outside of the shop. The other bloke was in dark blue French wizarding police uniform and make a move to reach inside his robes. In a quick decision, Sirius entered the shop with the owl still in his hand. The shop keeper, not noticing his panicked behavior, welcomed him warmly and started to give praises to the baby scops owl Sirius apparently interested in.

Not batting an eye, Sirius paid for the excitable bundle of feathers, as if it was indeed the one that he was interested in and asked for the back door. He could hear the commotion in the main street, and they would find him very quickly.

Fortunately, no one suspects illegal animagi, not even in France. After telling his new pet to find him in a few hours, Sirius transformed and started walking as calmly as possible towards the rendezvous location with Buckbeak.

On his way back, Padfoot could see newly hanged wanted posters with his face on the walls of the shops on Rue Violette.

* * *

Back to the park, he called Buckbeak with a whistle. Soon after Sirius arrived, the owl flew and landed on Sirius’s shoulder.

_One out of three. Plus, clothes and a pet. Could be worse._

Sirius still needed to find someone to gather information on where to get a wand, and find another library, hopefully somewhere out of the country.

Other than Paris, Sirius wasn’t very familiar with the French wizarding community. The only other place he knew was a wizarding village in Toulouse called Barthe where his great aunt Cassiopeia lived with her French wife. She might have been one of the more unorthodox ones in the family, but she was still a pureblood fanatic as much as the rest of them.

Without any other option, Sirius decided to visit the village. If the shady people he encountered when he was a boy were still there, maybe with enough money, they would provide some information.

* * *

On their way to Toulouse, Sirius decided to get Harry a message.

He explained what he was doing without giving up his location, explained how he got the Firebolt, apologized for his frightening behavior in their encounters, and gifted the owl to Ron as another apology. He was running out of apologies, it seemed. He almost forgot to attach a signed Hogsmeade permission letter, which he knew Harry needed from their limited talk on the day of the full moon.

The tiny owl was so excited for the first mission that it was flying in circles over Sirius’s head while he wrote the letter. Its unlimited energy reminded him of James, and he felt a little sad that he was parting ways with the owl.

* * *

Village de la Barthe looked smaller than he remembered. The main street was filled with potion suppliers and herbal stores. He entered one of the plain-looking shops. Inside was dusty and composed of a desk and three chairs. The wizard behind the desk was sleeping on his chair, snoring with his head thrown back. Sirius rang a bell on the desk and the bald wizard woke up with a start. He laid his eyes on Sirius, scanning head to toes, and instead of a greeting asked: “Black?”

Sirius ignored the question. “I need information,” he said in French. He was mimicking his father and hating himself a little bit. But extreme situations required extreme acts. He took out 10 galleons and put them on the table.

“What kind of information you seek, Mr. Black?” asked the man in English.

“Where can I find a wandmaker who knows how to keep quiet?”

He got a few locations and paid almost 50 galleons. Before he left, he cautioned the wizard not to inform the old Black witch.

“Didn’t you know?” the man raised an eyebrow. “Madame Cassiopeia has passed 2 years ago.”

* * *

The trip to Casablanca was a week long. Buckbeak got tired from frequent flying for two weeks, they were traveling a maximum of 8 hours every day. As they passed the Mediterranean Sea, the climate and the flora changed. Neither Buckbeak nor Sirius were enjoying the hot weather. At least it wasn’t humid like in England.

Sirius left Buckbeak in a woodland area just outside of the city and walked to the address the wizard provided. The store was in a muggle neighborhood and under a 5-floor muggle apartment. It looked and sounded like a store that sells musical instruments. There were even muggle customers inside.

The shop attendant welcomed him loudly in a language he assumed was Arabic while he was instructing a customer playing a lute-like instrument.

Sirius approached the register, which was attended by a young boy, and asked for Madame Maalouf, in French. The boy didn’t raise his head from the gray rectangular gadget but reached under the desk to ring a bell.

With that, the whole store changed. The instruments dissolved into thin air. In their place, wooden cabinets popped up on the walls. Even the air changed. The sound of the music got muffled. The muggle aura was gone, and the shop became magical. The customers were unaware of the change. First, their bodies looked transparent like ghosts, and then they were gone too. The only thing that stayed the same was the boy who was still playing with his gadget. A middle-aged witch with a headscarf entered from the back room and joined the boy.

“Madame Maalouf?” Sirius guessed, and put on a flirty smile just to make sure.

“Who’s looking?”

Sirius thought about lying, but he decided on avoiding the question.

“I’ve been told to look for you, that you can supply what I need without any trace,” he responded in his unpracticed French.

“An Englishman,” she replied and smiled for the first time. But it looked like instead of pleased, she was mocking. “What is it that you are looking for?”

“A wand.”

“Ah,” she said as she got closer to him over the desk. “A wand for the notorious serial killer Sirius Black. It’s like supplying terrorists with AK47.”

Sirius didn’t understand the last part but since his identity was known he was on his guard.

“Relax, Mr. Black,” she waved her hand and placed the other on her hip. “I’ve been informed about your situation. You are not exactly on the textbook stealth mission. The word goes around.”

“What do you want?” Sirius frowned.

“Me? Only your money. In exchange for goods and services of course.” This time her smile was genuine.

“So, you will be discreet?”

“Of course. Let’s get you a wand, shall we?”

They went through at least 10 wands. Cores from Anqa tail talon, Mermen heartstring, Griffin feathers; woods from date trees, eucalyptus, acacia, and many more. Sirius was almost giving up on finding the perfect match before Madame Maalouf pushed a greenish-yellow wand with natural-looking wood in Sirius's hand. He felt an easy, warm power surrounding him.

“Ah, what an interesting choice”, she said and looked really interested.

 _Are all wandmakers the same_? Sirius thought. All matches were interesting in their eyes. Ollivander had said the same thing when he got his first wand.

“ _Ebony, dragon heartstring. 12 inch._ ”

“Tibicena fang core, olive, 25 cm.” Madame Maalouf explained. Which didn’t mean anything to Sirius. Fortunately, she explained further.

“The olive tree used to make this wand, Mr. Black, is 2000 years old. It’s located in Lebanon, still alive. I had to get a special permit to obtain it. The core, however, comes from a Tibicena, from the Canary Islands. You see, the geographical difference makes it a unique combination. This is the only one as far as I’m aware. Tibicena fang is suitable for powerful magic, and olive is strong yet sensitive wood. Take good care of your new wand, Mr. Black.”

“What kind of a beast is Tibicena?”

“A large black canine.”

Sirius barked a loud laugh. “Of course, it is.”

After he paid her handsomely, he asked for one more favor.

“If I were to look for a place, to lay low, and do some research. Where would you suggest?”

She thought for a moment.

“For laying low, I would suggest any pacific islands, most are remote enough. Your access to resources would be limited, though. There are many great public libraries in North Africa. In here, Egypt- Oh! There is the Great Magical Library of Sub-Saharan Africa in Ghana, very remote, excellent books. It is very distant, unfortunately, you will need a portkey.”

Sirius thanked the witch and left the store. As he reached the door, the music shop was appearing.

* * *

Not having a portkey turned out to be a mistake. It took Sirius and Buckbeak 2 weeks to get to Ghana. The flight over the desert was cold, and hot, and terrible. The good thing was that Sirius had stocked and shrunk food beforehand enough for a month, so they didn’t get hungry. Buckbeak who was doing all the work, however, getting irritated for the smallest inconvenience, snapping at Sirius randomly, refusing to fly during the day, and starting fights with local birds and reptiles.

When they arrived at the library, all the troubles were worth it. The building itself wasn’t impressive from the outside. It was located on the tallest mountain of the country, buried in thick forest, and enchanted to be hidden from muggles. With the thatch roof and the colorfully painted mud walls, it looked rather small. The inside, however, was so large that Sirius could swear Hogwarts could fit in.

When Buckbeak landed close to the entrance, a young librarian with bright red and yellow shirt welcomed him outside and asked if he had permission for his pet. Sirius turned around to see Buckbeak flying away.

“What pet?” he asked innocently. The wizard didn’t look satisfied but didn’t press either. Kojo, as he later introduced himself, took Sirius on a short tour. He learned that the library included almost all the books he was seeking, and much more. There were even muggle books for every possible subject in many languages. _A Ravenclaw might die from excitement in here,_ he thought. Regrettably, Sirius was a Gryffindor with a specific aim and short attention span.

After one day of active charming enough to befriend Kojo, Sirius got many suggestions on where to stay, what to eat, what were the best practices in this foreign nation for him and Buckbeak.

Buckbeak was having his well-deserved resting, enjoying the mountain weather roaming free in the tropical forest, and upsetting his stomach by insisting on eating the bright colored animals that he didn’t know and were most certainly poisonous - _Buckbeak, NO_!

After a month of studying and getting distracted by the local attractions, Sirius finally found what he was searching for. He tested his new runic array first on a reluctant Kojo, then on unaware muggle and wizard subjects, fixing and improving along the way until he was satisfied enough to get it tattooed on his chest. The only problem was that there were no Dementors in Africa to test the array’s effectiveness. Which was fine. It’s not like Sirius wanted to encounter them willingly.

During their time in Ghana, he sent Harry one letter using local postage -which didn’t use owls but large tropical birds for long-distance postage. Two weeks later a very exhausted snow owl named Hedwig delivered his reply. Sirius kept the letter in his pocket, reading occasionally to get him back to research so he could go back.

And he was finally ready to go back. Since he didn’t want to fly all 5000 km back to England, he arranged a portkey to Ireland.

He gave his farewells to his new acquaintances, and especially to Kojo who cried a little. He got Buckbeak to bit on the pillowcase and held the other side himself. As soon as Buckbeak got over the nausea of transportation via portkey, they flew to Surrey, England.

On July 30th, Sirius was observing Privet Drive Number 4 across street and didn’t like what he had seen at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I held back myself from making this too much of an anti-imperialist statement. But please be aware that there is  
> [this](https://flyingkoalaandsloths.tumblr.com/post/638956075252662272/sirius-black-the-class-traitor) version that now lives in my head.


	10. Dumbledore I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus Dumbledore’s pleasant afternoon with meetings and a surprise visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the first chapters I’ve written. Beta-read by my best friend.

On an exceptionally beautiful afternoon in July, the headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, was viewing the Great Lake and the Giant Squid swimming inside it from his office window. He had just completed his meeting with Bartemius Crouch about the upcoming Triwizard Tournament. The Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation was very thorough about every single detail as if his life depended on the success of this tournament.

On one hand, the tournament could bring the most needed cooperation to the wizarding world. On the other hand, the headmaster had some concerns about the safety of his students in the new academic year. Specifically, about the Boy-Who-Lived.

Albus was not the best Divination student. He nonetheless never ignored its power. On the contrary, he might have been taking it more seriously than necessary.

“ _Most great prophecies come true because there are people who believe in them_ ” would tell his wise old friend Ethel who was already a Divination Professor for 20 years when Albus was just starting as Transfiguration Professor.

Nonetheless, Sybill’s first prophecy was proven to be true. Her second might as well.

Lord Voldemort was getting powerful. Slowly, but steadily. With the old followers beside him, ‘how soon’ was the question, not ‘if’.

During the Triwizard tournament, the number of Death Eaters at Hogwarts would also increase. The Headmaster of Durmstrang Institute might have betrayed his fellow Death Eaters in exchange for his freedom, but that does not mean he actually had a change of heart. Although Albus suspected Lord Voldemort, when he returns, would not be too happy with his presence in his ranks, he should ask Severus to keep an eye on Igor Karkaroff.

Albus truly hoped that his old friend Alastor would accept his offer.

With a sigh, he turned his back to the magnificent view of Hogwarts grounds. He had work to do.

However, his work got interrupted by an owl. A post-office owl dropped a piece of paper, not even an envelope, on his desk and flew away. Curiously, he levitated the paper to inspect.

It was seemingly blank and unthreatening. It looked muggle but enchanted for sure. When he waved the elder wand to do diagnostics, he detected a simple concealment charm on it. Water didn’t reveal the writing, but a freshly brewed tea did. Albus smiled on his successful attempt and read the small note:

_Dumbledore,_

_I need to talk to you. I’m waiting in the place where you know,_

_Sirius Black_

Not what he was expecting… Sirius should have left the country. He was being too reckless as if he was still a schoolboy. And whatever he wanted to tell, surely a floo call or owl with extra security would be much safe.

Realizing his thoughts getting rushed and judgmental -a mistake he kept making about his old student- he schooled himself. Sirius was waiting for him somewhere, and the longer he was waiting the dangerous it as for him.

He shot another glance at the paper before setting it on fire. Where he _knew_? For a second, he listed the Black estates around the country in his mind. But the message was urgent, and Sirius must be close. _Right, that was where he is of course_.

Albus exited his office and sent Argus to notify Minerva about his absence. As he walked towards the Whomping Willow, he thought about the possible topic of this spontaneous meeting. Was it about Harry or Peter Pettigrew?

It was unfortunate that Pettigrew escaped. Sirius’s only hope for freedom was gone. The evidence against him was so substantial, there wasn’t any doubt in anyone’s head that Sirius Black the heir of the infamous Black Dynasty was guilty, Albus included.

In retrospect, it was very clear that Black is innocent. In their school years, James Potter and Sirius Black were like brothers. Sirius had abandoned anything related to his family and was devoted to his friends and the cause. Against all his faults, Sirius was Potter’s man before anything.

Albus, of course, was at fault for prejudice. Knowing Sirius’s school pranks and especially the one against Severus which was a hard deal to handle and his family background, Albus was suspecting him of being the spy even before Potters’ demise.

He had a few more suspects of course, but Black was fitting the type. _He still does_ , Albus thought, as he entered Shrieking Shack.

Inside the house, someone was waiting for him. The person was neither tall, nor short; averagely build; not old, but not young either. There was nothing significant about him. The man looked unthreatening, so much so that Albus didn’t draw his wand.

But something was not right. His instincts were ringing alarm bells.

What was he doing here? He was going to meet someone. Who?

_Sirius Black!_

As Albus gathered his thoughts, the man before him raised a wandless hand and touched his chest, over his sternum.

The man, Sirius Black, was staring at him with a knowing smirk.

“Impressive,” Albus said truthfully. Whatever spell it was, it was truly impressive. It wouldn’t be so arrogant to think tricking Albus Dumbledore was not in everyone’s power.

Black was looking much better with clean clothes, a shave, and a haircut, but still so thin. Years of malnourishment wouldn’t go away in a month, of course. But his eyes were clear, away from the Dementors’ effect. There were still whites in his hair, early wrinkles on his hollow face. His hands looked like a skeleton.

The top buttons of Sirius’s black shirt were open revealing some sort of magical tattoo on his white chest where he previously touched to deactivate the spell. A similar design was also on his hand. He remembered the tattoo on the young man’s left hand when the Aurors captured him. It was mostly hidden under his sleeve, and he didn’t have time to inspect. The one on his chest though must be new.

From the runes, it seemed like _Expellunt Muggletum_ spell but highly modified. There were multiple layers of disguise charms with a transfiguration base. It was one of the most advanced rune-magic he has ever seen.

“Thank you, Professor. It’s my own invention. 10 points for Gryffindor?” Sirius joked. His smile reformed his face with the memory of his youth and handsomeness of 13 years ago.

“Indeed, it deserves a reward of some sort. Although, I’m no longer your teacher to give away house points. But I’m sure Minerva would appreciate the fine transfiguration work you applied on your charm.”

“You caught that?” Sirius raised a single eyebrow. “Of course, you did,” he said. “But as much as I love to talk about my post-graduate academic achievements, that’s not why I’m here for.”

“No, I suppose not. Why are you here, Sirius?” Albus asked, calmly waiting for the certain storm to come and pass.

“I went to see Harry,” Sirius’s voice was cold as ice. “Do you know what they are doing to him in that miserable house he is supposed to call home?” he raised his voice with every word.

“I’m not sure what you are talking about,” Albus replied.

“Like hell, you don’t! You left him there, with that magic-hating hag and her abhorrent husband.”

“They are his only family,” Albus tried to dispute.

“Just because they share blood, doesn’t mean they are family.” Sirius’s voice was strained, his hands in fists as if he was holding his anger inside.

“It is the safest place for Harry,” Albus tried again.

“THEY HATE HIM, THEY HATE MAGIC. THEY ARE STARVING HIM, DUMBLEDORE!” Sirius yelled.

Albus knew that Harry didn’t want to go back, but he didn’t think anything of it. He was also aware that Dursleys had a distaste for magic. It was useful for Harry to be away from the magical world when he was a child.

When Albus left Harry on the doorstep of Dursleys, he also got a promise from Petunia Dursley, that Harry would be cared for. And all wards in the Privet Drive Number 4 were specifically designed for Harry Potter’s safety.

Albus wasn’t aware of any physical abuse. If there were any serious physical danger his wards would notify him. Although the wards didn’t apply to psychological abuse. Skipping a few meals also wouldn’t be categorized as a serious danger.

However, if Sirius was correct, if Harry was really hated in that house, what would it mean for the fate of the boy?

It was essential that Harry knew and understand love. And for the past three years, Albus had seen that Harry was capable of love.

Was it possible to be raised in a loveless home, and still being capable?

He looked at Sirius who was waiting for a reply. Sirius had problems in his parents’ house. He even had escaped to live with James Potter’s family. Wasn’t Sirius counterevidence to that hypothesis? Wasn’t 13-year-old Harry?

What about young Tom Riddle? Born out of a love potion, abandoned by his father. By his mother. Was it his fate to become Evil? Did his family situation not contribute to anything?

Once more Albus was reminded of the uncanny resemblance between Tom and Harry.

Seeing him lost on his thought, Sirius continued:

“He should live with me! I’m his godfather! If he needs protection, I can protect him!”

Albus took a deep breath. He understood the viewpoint of Sirius, but the best protection was still with his aunt’s house.

“The house of his relatives provides the best protection for Harry. Lord Voldemort or his followers cannot touch him if he calls his aunt’s house his own.”

“I don’t get it! How is a muggle house being better protection than- than- an Order member and heavy wards?”

“When Lilly Potter died, in hands of Voldemort, she invoked an ancient magical protection on Harry,” Albus started explaining. “She didn’t fight back, she didn’t stand aside, even when he was offering her an escape. She sacrificed herself. That sacrifice still protects Harry. In his first year, when Voldemort’s spirit seized one of my professors, he couldn’t touch Harry without feeling immense pain. It’s blood magic, you see. I was able to use it to ward Lily’s only blood relative’s house, her sister’s. It is the best protection anyone can make. Harry has to live there until he is of age.”

Albus could see the previous conviction on Sirius’s face was fading into hesitation.

“She was working on protective charms. After… after the prophecy.”

“You know about the prophecy?”

“They told me. They said you didn’t want them to share with anyone. But I wasn’t anyone.”

“No. You were their best friend.”

Sirius’s eyes got wet. He hid them with his thin hands trying to gather himself while Albus waited patiently.

“Lily… She was great with charms. Better than we ever were. But something was bugging her. A problem she couldn’t figure out. I didn’t know all of it. But sometimes, I would help her research. Scanning old texts to see anything usable. So, that’s what she was working on? I didn’t know she finished it. I thought she stopped after we agreed on _Fidelius_.”

“I don’t know what she used exactly. But no, I don’t think she finished the spell. It didn’t protect her or her husband. Either way, it was still powerful enough to protect her son.”

Sirius let his hands fall to his sides. “I can’t leave Harry alone in that house, Headmaster.”

“He cannot leave.” As Sirius opened his mouth to argue against it, Albus raised his hand to stop him. “However,” he continued, “just because he cannot leave, does not mean that you will leave him alone.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked shocked, but with hints of understanding. “Do you mean what I think you mean?”

Albus smiled at his old student:

“Your runes hide you well. I don’t think the Ministry can catch you if you are careful. And, Sirius, you must be careful. We must assume that Pettigrew is already with Voldemort, that they know of your Animagus form.”

Back at the castle, Severus was waiting for him with the news about the arrival date of visitors from Durmstrang Institute. As they walked towards his office, Albus placed on hand on his friends’ shoulder. He thought about the enmity between Severus and Sirius. On the different sides of the war, both men tried and failed to protect the people they loved. Severus was under his protection and living to serve. Sirius was prisoned and now on the run. Albus was hoping he was correct about Sirius Black this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? I know that the fandom thinks Dumbledore is a manipulative bastard, and he is in this fic as well, but I tried to portray him not as a caricature. He is more subtle about his manipulative nature. He makes people do what he needs them to do but people respect him and agree with him. That’s why he’s the leader. Sirius not going to tell him off and take Harry with him, even though he has the right.   
> I also changed the power of love spell in the canon. I tried to put in a more rational explanation. The spell still requires powerful emotion but here it’s intentional on Lily’s part.   
> Next chapter: the highly anticipated (and deserved) fluff but I’m going to make you wait for a little.


	11. Potter I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Godfather and Godson quality time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter specific warnings: mentions of child abuse, brief ableism, and Sirius’s mostly handled PTSD.  
> Also, both Harry and Sirius are a little OOC in here, sorry about that  
> I know the general fanon around Sirius’s fav bands are Queen, Sex Pistols, and such, and I mostly agree but [listEN!!!1](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jVCCDVZFnNOGy7jmtmA0B)

Harry woke up with the sound of Pigwidgeon’s beak hitting the window of his room on the morning of his 14th birthday. He allowed Ron’s tiny owl inside. Pig, carrying a bunch of letters, tumbled in and landed on Harry’s bed. As he was happily celebrating a successful journey, Hedwig stretched her wings in irritation. Following Pig, Weasley’s ancient owl Errol, carrying a large parcel, flew into the room making a mess with his fallen feathers. Harry gave both some Eeylops Premium Owl and read the letters from Ron, the twins, Ginny, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley wishing him a happy birthday.

The large parcel turned out to be a chocolate birthday cake. Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Granger, and Hagrid were sending him cookies, pies, and snacks all summer since they knew about Dudley’s (and therefore Harry’s) diet. He still had some snacks from Hermione, and of course Hagrid’s rock cakes, but the birthday cake was the best. He placed the cake gently in his secret stash, cleaned Errol’s mess, wrote quick thank you letters to Ron and other Weasleys, and after making sure that Errol can handle the journey back, sent both him and Pidwidgeon back to the Burrow.

Feeling good, he went to the kitchen for breakfast.

Uncle Vernon was reading the Sunday papers while Aunt Petunia cutting grapes in half for Dursley. They grunted a ‘’morning’ and continue ignoring him as Harry served tea for everyone.

Today’s breakfast for Harry was a tiny piece of cheese and three grapes. Dudley was whining about his larger piece of cheese and six grapes, and Harry was dreaming about Mrs. Weasley’s chocolate cake when the doorbell rang. Aunt Petunia’s look was enough to assign Harry on the duty to open the door.

In front of the door, the tall wizard in muggle clothes with long hair and a handsome smile was Harry’s Godfather. Sirius Black was looking so much better than the last time Harry saw him.

“Happy birthday, Harry!” Sirius opened his arms and Harry jumped to him with an embarrassing shout.

“SIRIUS!” Sirius‘s hug swept Harry off his feet.

“Wait!” Harry said worryingly when he was back on the ground. “How are you here? Aren’t the Dementors after you?”

“I have permission from Dumbledore,” Sirius ruffled Harry’s hair. “I will explain more later.” He looked inside curiously. “Are you going to invite me in?” he asked with a smirk.

Before Harry could reply, his uncle came to the door. “WHAT IS THIS COMMOTION? WHO IS-”

He stopped in the middle of his sentence when he saw Sirius. The smile on Sirius’s face was gone and replaced by cold fury.

“Vernon? Who was it?”

Their face-off was cut short because Aunt Petunia has also arrived. She froze as well when she saw Sirius. He turned his attention to her and put on a rather scary smile.

“Hello darling, remember me?”

Aunt Petunia put her ‘I am better than you’ face on and looked down her nose at Sirius.

“You! You are one of _her_ freak friends.” Harry could tell that ‘her’ was his mother.

“My name is Sirius Black. We’ve met before the wedding.” He was unexpectedly polite if you ignored the anger in his eyes.

Uncle Vernon took out a tall umbrella from the shoe rack and hold it like a two-handed sword at Sirius. “You are the mass murderer!” Aunt Petunia covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes widen in recognition.

Sirius’s eyes glide over him but stayed focused on his wife as if Uncle Vernon wasn’t worth his attention. “Wrongly accused. Don’t attempt to report me. It won’t work and I will make you pay.”

“What do you want?” With that question, Sirius’s face brightened.

“Why, to see my Godson of course!” He sent a quick wink to Harry before turning to Aunt Petunia once more. “So, you will play host to me.”

“WHAT?” Both husband and wife reacted at the same time. Even Harry was shocked. _What did Sirius mean by that?_

“Yeah. I can sleep in the garden. And I can disappear if you need a few hours. But I will be around, and you will let me.” Harry was overjoyed. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t think he could live with his Godfather before Sirius got his name cleared.

“No, you cannot do that!” Aunt Petunia’s voice cut his train of thought. Harry felt worried for a moment, but Sirius’s reply put his mind to rest.

“Actually, you have no idea what I can or cannot do, lady. You will let me stay,” he ordered, his voice was as cold as ice. He stepped inside and walked towards her slowly. “I know how you abused Harry for all those years when he was supposed to be under your protection! If it were up to me, I would take him away in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, he needs to live here until he is of age. You see my problem, _Tuney_?”

“It’s your problem. This is my house!” Aunt Petunia tried to keep her appearances but took a step back.

“Exactly!” Sirius exclaimed with a clap. “I knew you would understand, darling,” he patted her shoulder twice and turned to Harry. “Harry! Where is your room?”

As Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were recovering from the shock of having a strange wizard in their house, Harry took Sirius by his arm and gave a tour to the house.

“Are you really going to stay? What if they call the police? What about the Aurors? What if someone sees you!” Harry bombarded Sirius with questions as they walked upstairs.

“I’m really staying Harry. Don’t worry, Dumbledore knows. No one can recognize me, not the muggles, nor the Aurors, it’s alright. If they call the police, I can charm them, and they would forget about it.”

“Dumbledore knows?” He looked very confident about not getting caught but Harry was suspicious.

“Yes. I talked to him before showing up on your doorstep. I was here yesterday as well. I got angry when I saw you. I was going to storm in but there are wards protecting the house. Having malicious intent and all… It’s alright now. I’m still not allowed to hurt your guardians, but hey, they don’t have to know that, right?” he grinned with mischief.

“Why did you get angry yesterday?” Harry asked curiously. Before Sirius can, he answered his own question. “Did you see me working in the garden? But it was just chores.”

Sirius frowned. “It was lunchtime, and the only lunch you got was a banana, which you ate outside.”

“I told you that Dudley is on diet. They give me less than they give him otherwise he throws a tantrum. But it’s OK, I have my own stash.”

“Harry, you only told me that they were awful. You never told me how awful it was. You shouldn’t be subjected to this.”

Harry felt like he did something wrong, even though a rational part of him -who suspiciously sounded like Hermione- telling him that Sirius was on his side. He changed the subject and opened his birthday cake to share with Sirius. They didn’t have plates or forks. Sirius took out his wand with an intention to summon them, but Harry stopped him quickly.

“Wait! I’m not allowed to do magic in the house!”

Sirius looked confused. “You won’t do it. I will.”

“Yes, I know but,” and Harry continued with the story of how Dobby did wandless magic before his second year and it was Harry who got the warning note from the Improper Use of Magic Office.

Sirius scowled. “That’s not how…” he didn’t finish his sentence but put his wand inside of his sleeve. “Whatever, then we won’t do any wand magic here. But I’m afraid I cannot stop the charms I have on me. I already have some of them activated. If they didn’t cause a problem by now, then I don’t think it will cause a problem later.”

Harry went to the kitchen to get utensils and saw his aunt and uncle talking to the police in the front door. He was going to warn Sirius, only to find him walking casually to the door.

“He is here officers. Arrest him immediately!” Uncle Vernon was ordering around. The officers looked at Sirius in confusion.

“Sir, you said a murderer was here. Where is he? And who is this man?” They replied.

“He is Sirius Black!”

“Who?”

While uncle Vernon was getting redder with every minute, Sirius looked bored.

“I told you, it wouldn’t work,” he said to Harry’s uncle, then turned to the police officers, an arm around each’s shoulders. “Gentleman, I think there is a misunderstanding. You see my brother is…” he made a ‘crazy’ gesture. “He gets paranoid. I think he skipped some pills; it happens.” Sirius walked both men talking nonstop until they reached their car. They said their goodbyes to him and drove away. Some neighbors were watching them from their windows. Sirius greeted them with a wave, and bizarrely they in return waved him.

He calmly walked back into the house and faced a very scared husband and wife.

“I told you, I would make you pay.” Both his uncle and aunt shrieked in horror. Sirius walked them into the living room as Harry waited in the kitchen where Dudley, who was out of sight since breakfast, was secretly eating pastries.

After the meeting they finally ate the cake; it was delicious (Harry got the second cake from Hermione around noon).

Sirius left the house for an hour to check on Buckbeak and returned with a disassembled doghouse.

“Why do you need it?” Harry questioned. “There is an extra room. And even if they don’t let you, you could stay in my room.”

“No way! Every teenager needs their alone time,” Sirius laughed. “I made a deal with your aunt and uncle. I will sleep outside as Padfoot, and I can hang out in your room during the day. It’s better this way. I like sleeping as Padfoot. And don’t worry, Animagus transformation cannot be caught by Trace.”

They respectfully borrowed Uncle Vernon’s personal drill (and got a lengthy lecturing on how to not damage the tool) and some screws. Harry was surprised to see that Sirius’s ability to handle the tools like a muggle. When he commented on it, Sirius smiled proudly and talked about how he had built his own motorbike and charmed it to fly.

“The one you gave to Hagrid!” Harry jumped.

“Yes, that one. Did you see it?”

“I dreamt about it once. Hagrid said that he had used a flying motorbike to carry me here as a baby. Before I started Hogwarts, before I knew about magic, I dreamt about a flying motorbike. It was yours. Hagrid said so.”

Sirius looked sad. He was not meeting Harry’s eyes, instead, looking somewhere past Harry’s ear.

“Yes,” he said softly. “I’d lent it to Hagrid when he came for you. You were so tiny. I thought it would be a safer trip with my bike than the other options.”

Harry got very curious and was going to ask for more, but it was the day that his parents had died, and Sirius had been arrested, so he didn’t.

When they finished the doghouse, it was dinner time. As a birthday gift, Sirius took Harry to a fancy restaurant.

“Order as much as you’d like,” Sirius said. After a feast much like the ones in Hogwarts, Sirius got Harry’s help with the bill and tip. He was better at this than the Weasleys but not as good as how he handled the tools.

At night, Sirius transformed to Padfoot, got a hug from Harry, and returned it as a lick on the face.

The next morning Harry found Sirius in Dursley’s kitchen, having small talk with very red-faced Uncle Vernon. Sirius’s emotionless face brighten as he saw Harry. It was the weirdest breakfast he ever had. Dursleys look like they were captive in their own house. Harry didn’t find it in himself to feel sympathy for them. The breakfast wasn’t just some fruit anymore.

* * *

Having Sirius around was so much fun. He listened to all of Harry’s Hogwarts stories. He asked the correct questions, laughed at the right moments, and showed concerned when Harry needed it. Harry didn’t miss any detail when he told him about his classes, friends, and their adventures. Even his encounters with Voldemort. Sirius didn’t flinch when he said Voldemort’s name, but his eyes darkened and his mood got solemn. When that happened, Harry changed the subject with stories of Ron’s imitation of the Professors.

Harry was expecting to hear stories about his parents from Sirius. But he only got Sirius’s time with Buckbeak. When he pressed for a Marauder’s story, Sirius withdrew to himself. He transformed into Padfoot and stayed in the garden for a while. Harry didn’t know how to apologize but it wasn’t necessary in the end. When Sirius gather himself, he knocked on Harry’s door.

“Azkaban took more than 12 years from me, Harry,” Sirius explained. “It took all my good memories. All I have left are the painful ones. I’m sorry Harry, I can’t share them with you. But they are coming back. Bits and pieces, slowly. Being around you is helping. I promise, in time I will tell you many stories of your parents.”

* * *

A week later they went shopping. Sirius thought that it was unacceptable to wear Dudley’s old clothes. Harry first thought that they would visit Diagon Alley but Sirius thought it would be better if they didn’t. He explained how his spells work and their flaws. Sirius’s disguise method was very effective against muggles. For wizards and witches, their effectiveness was depending on the capabilities of the target, the duration of interaction, and the environmental cues. Sirius visited there by himself before but with The Boy Who Lived by his side, it wouldn’t be too long till he gets caught.

So, they stayed in Surrey. As they moved shop to shop their bags got larger. Sirius was enjoying himself, and Harry was just happy to spend more time with him.

They were strolling around aimlessly chatting about random things with ice cream in their hands when Sirius stopped walking.

“I know this song,” he said and entered the record shop where the rock music was coming from with Harry on his heels. The shop was filled with vinyl records and cassette tapes, there were band posters on the walls. The music was louder inside.

_~ So fortune shine your light on me and my dog ~_

_~ 'Cause we need some security ~_

_~ While other folks are living high on the hog ~_

_~ I'm the black sheep of the family ~_

Sirius was humming the melody and singing the parts where he knew the lyrics. Harry approached the shopkeeper and asked for the album the song was from. The album in question was an old vinyl record with an electric guitar shaped castle and a rainbow art on it; it read _Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow_. Harry showed it to Sirius and he came closer and inspected it with fascination.

“I had this before! It was a gift, from your father!” He looked so happy as he held the album like it was the most precious thing in the world.

After they left the shop, with the album already paid for and still in Sirius’s hand, Sirius told Harry the first Marauder’s story he was waiting for.

“It was Christmas. No, close to Christmas.” As he was talking, Sirius was remembering more and more detail. “I was staying with your father. It was the Christmas Holidays after I left my family’s house. Our 6th year. James had a date. It was with your mother. But they weren’t dating yet by then. No, there was a bet. Lily had lost it, and James had asked for a date in muggle London. He was so happy for their first date. Wouldn’t stay still for a moment. I was with your grandparents waiting for him to return. I was expecting him to talk for hours about Lily and their date but as soon as he arrived, he called me. ‘Padfoot, look what I found,’ he was yelling, ‘I’ve found the perfect song for you’. He held the album up to my face. The song is called _Black Sheep of the Family_.”

Sirius showed Harry the song title in the back.

“James thought, very cleverly, since I was the black sheep of the Black Family, it should have been my song. He was so excited about the song, forgot that we didn’t have any record player. The next day Mrs. Potter brought a record player just so that we could play that one song in the album. I loved it. We played the whole album, again and again, the entire holiday. When we went back to Hogwarts, we played that song in the Great Hall during the feast. It was one of my favorite pranks. James transfigured black sheep, and we charmed them to move like they were performing the song. With instruments and microphones. It was very loud, and the sheep were dancing on the house tables. Some of Muggle-born students knew the song so they were singing along. I even saw Professor McGonagall sway with the rhythm, but she later denied it.”

Harry was listening with awe. He had so many questions. When did his parents start dating? What was the bet about? Did they place bets regularly? Did his mother sing the song with other Muggle-born students? He didn’t want to overwhelm Sirius again, so he stayed silent and absorbed all the information his Godfather was offering.

At home, they borrowed Aunt Petunia’s record player and listened to the songs. Harry imagined it was his father’s voice singing the lyrics while dancing with his mother.

It was the best summer ever.

* * *

A few weeks later, Harry woke up sweaty from a terrible nightmare with burning pain in his forehead. Sirius was already right beside him and held him until he calmed down. In Sirius’s thin but safe arms, he wondered if this was how having parents felt like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so many emotions about Rainbow/Dio’s songs and the Marauders...


	12. World Cup Final

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before and after of the Quidditch World Cup Final

It was already morning when Padfoot woke up from another restless sleep. It had been 13 years since he had a good night's sleep. This was one of the reasons why he didn’t want to bother Harry by sleeping in his room.

It took him a while to understand exactly what woke him up. He straightened his ears and listened carefully. Inside the house, someone was crying quietly. The sounds were coming from the smallest bedroom on the second floor — Harry’s room.

He shifted and rushed inside the house. With human ears, Sirius couldn’t pick up the sounds until he was next to Harry’s bed. Harry was trembling and drenched in sweat. His eyes were closed. _He must be still asleep_. Sirius sat down by his Godson. He was weighing pluses and minuses of waking him up when Harry opened his eyes. He sat up with a gasp. Sirius guided him to his chest as he murmured things Prongs would say to him to calm him down.

When Harry’s labored breathing slowed down, he pulled away.

“Harry, are you alright?”

His godson nodded but lifted his hand to rub the scar that he got from his parents’ killer. Sirius moved Harry’s damp hair from his forehead and eased his hand away to check on where it seemed to cause the pain.

“Headache?” he asked as he observed the red lighting shape scar of the Killing Curse. ‘The-Boy-Who-Lived’, they called him. But it was Lily who sacrificed herself so that the boy lived. The scar didn’t look or felt any different than normal. Harry leaned into his touch before nodding again.

“It burns.”

“Like when Voldemort was near?”

Harry nodded once more. Sirius got up from the bed to look outside from the window for any irregularities. There was nothing out of order. He returned to Harry’s side and wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

“It’s safe in here,” he tried to console the young boy even though he wasn’t sure about that.

“I had a dream. It was Voldemort. He was with a snake and Wormtail. And some old man. Voldemort and Wormtail were talking… about someone they killed. I can’t remember the name. And someone else… they plan to kill… _me._ ” As he said the last word, he looked at Sirius.

_Was it just a dream? Or something prophetic? Did it already happen?_

Sirius had so many questions, none of them Harry would know. The way Harry talked about it, it seemed like the events have already happened. Wormtail was with Voldemort. It was his fault. He couldn’t restrain the treacherous bastard. Now Harry was in danger once more.

“They won’t touch you while I’m around,” he promised.

When Harry looked much better, Sirius questioned him about the dream, but Harry wasn’t able to recall much more detail.

If it were a single event, Sirius would have ignored this weird dream. But Harry was connected to Voldemort in a way Sirius couldn’t understand. The way his scar hurt when he got close to Voldemort, the way Voldemort couldn’t touch him… And there was the prophecy. Both prophecies, actually. ‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord’. _What power could vanquish the Dark Lord_? The newest one said: ‘The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was’.

Sirius didn’t have the answers. Before Azkaban, for the situations like this, he would ask the Marauders. Prongs would come up with something unthinkable at first. Sirius would go along with him anyway. Somewhere along the way, they would have to change the whole plan, but they would figure it out in the end. But James was dead. Moony would list everything negative about their plan, grumble a little, but wouldn’t completely oppose them. When they need it, he would help them by finding a logical solution. But Remus was out of the country. Wormtail — well, Sirius was trying not to think about the old Wormtail.

Sirius had Harry use Hedwig to send a note to Dumbledore before they went downstairs for breakfast.

For the whole month Sirius lived in Number 4 Privet Drive, he still couldn’t get used to the Dursleys. His thoughts went back and forth between ‘I’m already convicted for the murder of 12 muggles, what is two more’ and ‘It’s for Harry’s sake, control yourself’. They were really a bunch of distasteful muggles. He deserved an Order of Merlin First Class for how he contained himself.

Vernon was the most boring person Sirius has ever had the displeasure of meeting. After having a few polite conversations and using his tool one time, now all the man talk about was drill business. Sirius didn’t know how else he could make it clear that he didn’t want to talk about the market value for the drill bits. He didn’t even know what a market value was.

Petunia was a totally different topic. The first time they’ve met was before Lily and James’s wedding. Because she and Lily had a big fight at that meeting, she didn’t attend the wedding. Now she was looking at him with such hatred that if looks could curse, Sirius would be up in flames by now. It was herself who deserved to die for what she had been doing to her nephew. He didn’t want to imagine the reaction Lily would have if she could see her son’s living conditions. _What was Dumbledore thinking,_ he asked himself not for the first time.

Dudley… well Sirius didn’t think about the boy much. He was afraid of Sirius. And since there was no love lost between the cousins, Sirius tried to avoid him as much as possible. He looked like a little idiot if Sirius was being honest.

While they were having breakfast in a tense silence — which was only getting interrupted by Dudley’s whining about his special diet — the doorbell rang. Vernon attempted to get up, but Sirius stopped him. It wasn’t like Voldemort to ring the doorbell, but he didn’t want to be careless.

It was not Voldemort or a Death Eater but a Muggle postman. A very bemused one, albeit. When he could take breaks from his laugher, he tried to explain why he rang the bell instead of dropping the letter to the mailbox. Sirius, unaware of the muggle postal service system, didn’t understand a word. He closed the door and gave the letter to his hosts as it was for them.

They look very disturbed by the letter like if it was a stain on their honor. It turned out that the letter was from the Weasleys, Harry’s best friend’s parents, asking permission for taking him to the final of the Quidditch World Cup.

Sirius’s first instinct was a ‘Hell yeah!’. Prongs would love to take his son to World Cup matches. But there was the nightmare. Sirius didn’t want to let Harry out of his sight. And since he couldn’t attend, neither in people-shaped nor dog-shaped, he was uncertain to let Harry go.

However, all his uncertainty went away when he saw the look on his Godson’s face. There was no way he could say no to that. He gave an affirmative nod and Harry jumped to hug him.

Weasleys didn’t know about his innocence. And Harry didn’t tell Ron about his presence in the house yet because he thought it would be safer until Harry could tell Ron and Hermione in person. After the World Cup final, Sirius wouldn’t be able to see him until school starts.

Weasley’s following owl informed them that they would pick Harry up tomorrow afternoon which gave Sirius one and a half-day to prepare for whatever he could prepare before sending Harry away.

After he cautioned Harry to not go out of the house, he left to run some errands.

Sirius was gone all night and came back around noon. By then, Harry had already received Dumbledore’s reply. The headmaster didn’t seem concerned about the dream and asked Harry to inform him if this would happen again. Although Sirius didn’t like the dismissal, he didn’t want to alarm Harry by saying it out loud.

Before the Weasleys’ arrival, he said his goodbyes to Harry. He took out two matching items from his pocket and gave one to Harry.

Wrapped in velvet cloth was a small hand mirror.

“A makeup mirror?” Harry asked. He wasn’t wrong. Sirius got this cheap pair of mirrors from a muggle shop. They were plain metal, circular, and had covers. Sirius, then, had to visit a public library for the exact procedure for the enchantment.

“This is a two-way mirror, I’ve got the other one of the pair,” he showed his own mirror. “If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you’ll appear in my mirror and I’ll be able to talk in yours. James and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions. I want you to keep it on you always, and use it if your scar hurts again, or anytime you need me.”

After he collected his own stuff, he apparated to the Irish woodland where Buckbeak was staying for the month.

While he was away Buckbeak was feeling lonely. He tried to visit as frequently as possible, but he didn’t want to leave Harry’s side for long. Without Sirius or his herd around, the Hippogriff was terrorizing the fauna of the woodland in an attempt of playing.

Buckbeak met him with enthusiastic wrestling moves which knocked him down flat on the ground. When he escaped the beast’s claws, he transformed and continued the play fighting as Padfoot.

It was a full moon that night. He wanted to visit Moony, ran with him under the moon, howl with him… But Moony was away.

Remus didn’t have frequent communication with Harry. But he had sent a birthday card. He wrote that he was in Germany for a job, and that was it. After his condition was made public knowledge by Snivellus, any job opportunities he might have before became nonexistent. If he could find one abroad, good for him. Sirius knew that. And he knew that Remus didn’t ask about him for his own safety. Still, Sirius felt his friend’s absence.

In the morning, Sirius and Buckbeak went to the wizarding village close to Dublin. Sirius checked the papers for any news that might relate to the Death Eaters. They were full of news about the Quidditch World Cup final.

That night, Padfoot woke up to Harry’s voice over the two-way mirror. It was still dark. He transformed, lighted his wand, and answered the call.

“Harry?”

“Sirius! Sorry, for calling this late.” He sounded tired.

“What’s going on? Are you alright?”

“Yes! Yes, I’m fine. Something happened and I wanted to tell you myself before you heard about it in the morning.”

Ron was close, and whispering excitedly “Say hi from me,” off the mirror while Sirius was starting to freak out. Harry must have seen it in his face because he explained everything as quickly as humanly possible.

Long story short: The Death Eaters were in the World Cup final and attacked the muggles. Someone stole Harry’s wand to conjure the Dark Mark. The house-elf of the man who put Sirius in Azkaban was accused and freed as punishment.

After Harry completed his story Ron’s red head appeared in the mirror.

“We will return home with the morning portkey. Harry will stay with us until the school starts,” he informed Sirius. He looked over the mirror. “Someone is coming.”

“I got to go Padfoot,” Harry whispered and waved. Before Sirius could reply, the connection got cut.

Things were moving quicker than Sirius had thought. Wormtail had escaped, and if Harry’s dream was real, he was already with Voldemort. Had the Dark Lord already contacted his followers? If the Dark Mark was seen, then he must have.

When the sun was up, Sirius went to Dublin to get the papers.

_“DARK SHADOW ON IRISH VICTORY: THE DARK MARK SIGHTED AT THE_ _QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP”_ was the headline of the local newspaper. In the photograph, a snake was moving creepily in a mouth of a glowing skull illusion in the night’s sky. Sirius had seen it many times during the war. It was always a foreshadowing of a great tragedy. The last time he had seen one, he lost James.

The news article was criticizing the British Ministry’s inaptitude of controlling the Dark Wizards in a big event like this while congratulating the Irish Team for their win over Bulgaria. There was nothing about Harry, but a commentary on how this event reinforced the ideals of the Irish separation movement.

A few hours late, Sirius couldn’t stay still and flew Buckbeak to the hills of Devon, England where he knew Weasleys’ house was located as he learned from Harry’s stories. He turned to Padfoot to get the scent of Harry and his friends.

Weasleys’ house was hidden behind the hills. It was a few stories tall and scratchy wizard house. It wasn’t as eloquent as Blacks’ extravagant houses but it was radiating a warm comfort.

Outside of the house in a hastily build quidditch field six people on brooms were playing. Padfoot recognized Harry and Ron immediately. He approached tentatively. He was just out of the shrubs two of the players stopped playing and took out their wands towards where he was.

One of the two was a tall nicely dressed young wizard with long hair which he had tied at his neck. The other was shorter but had a more muscular build. Padfoot was trapped. In dog-shape, his only options were physical attack which wouldn’t do anything against two armed and alert wizards, and escape. He was going to retreat when he heard Harry’s voice.

“Padfoot!” Harry looked shocked. “What are you doing here?”

The rest of the players also touched down. Padfoot recognized the remaining two players as the Weasley twins. They looked at each other on Harry’s exclamation.

Harry and Ron ran toward Padfoot.

“Ron, get away from it!” Long haired wizard shouted while an older witch and two more kids ran outside. Hermione was one of them. The witch, presumably Mrs. Weasley, also had her wand out.

“Children, get inside, now!” she ordered. Behind her, Crookshanks ran towards him and rubbed his body on Padfoot’s legs.

Hermione looked panicked while Harry and Ron shielded Padfoot with their bodies.

“Mum, Bill, wait! He is alright,” said Ron.

“He won’t hurt anyone, Mrs. Weasley,” pleaded Harry.

“Ron, Harry, come here in this instance. That’s no ordinary dog. It’s an Animagus!” Mrs. Weasley tried again.

“We know!” three kids said at the same time. Hermione joined her friends in front of Padfoot while Padfoot was still thinking about the ways he could evade three adults.

“You know?” The long-haired young wizard hesitated. “Who is that?” Behind him, the twins looked more intrigued than alarmed.

Harry sent an apologetic look over his shoulder to Padfoot, then looked at his friends. They nodded each other, in silent agreement.

“He is Harry’s Godfather,” Ron told his family. Mrs. Weasley gasped in fear.

“R-ron, get away from him, NOW!”

“No, Mum, he is good! He was wrongly convicted,” Ron said and like an afterthought, he added, “Professor Dumbledore knows.”

“He has already been staying with me for a month,” said Harry.

“He is innocent,” said Hermione.

“Who is Harry’s godfather?” The shorter wizard looked puzzled over everyone’s reaction.

On that note, Padfoot transformed. All the red-hair heads blinded Sirius for a moment. Now he could see the similarities between the people in front of him more clearly. The young wizards must be Ron’s brothers. The curious girl who was shielded by Mrs. Weasley’s arm was probably Ron’s sister, Ginny.

Sirius didn’t pull out his wand but didn’t raise his hands in submission either.

“I apologize for coming without notice. I was worried about Harry,” he said with forced formality.

Harry turned to him. “I told you, I was fine.” Sirius shrugged.

Mrs. Weasley and the oldest two Weasley brothers staring at him, then Harry, then him again.

“Harry’s Godfather is Sirius Black?” asked the shorter Weasley, finally.

“And an Animagus?” asked the long-haired one.

“Ron! What is going on?” Mrs. Weasley looked like she was going to pass out.

Ron walked to his mother and they talked animatedly for minutes. They were looking over Sirius from time to time. Meanwhile, Sirius hugged his Godson and had a small talk with Hermione as he picked Crookshanks up and petted his orange fur.

After a while, the shorter Weasley brother ran into the house. The rest talked a few more minutes in which Mrs. Weasley went from slightly scared to terrified. She hugged Ron tightly and cried.

The Weasley brother came back out five minutes later with Professor Dumbledore just behind him.

“I remember telling you to be careful, Sirius,” he said. His voice was calm, contrasting the weight of his words.

Sirius didn’t have anything to say, so he didn’t talk.

“Let’s talk inside the house.” He turned to Mrs. Weasley, “Molly?”

Mrs. Weasley send a teary look towards Sirius and collected her kids and Hermione inside the house.

Sirius, with Crookshanks in one arm, and Harry in his other, followed them.

Molly Weasley, her children Bill, Charlie, Fred and George, and Ginny were introduced to Sirius officially by Dumbledore. They were seated in the cozy living room; Mrs. Weasley served tea. After ten minutes of quick ran down on what happened on June 6th and a promise to not tell anyone about this except Mr. Weasley, who was currently at work with the third oldest brother, Dumbledore went back to Hogwarts.

“I gotta ask,” Sirius started, after headmaster vanished in floo flames, “how did you know that I was an Animagus?”

Bill, who was looking at him with pity up until now smiled brightly. Ron held up his hand with his head bowed in embarrassment.

“It’s my fault,” he said sheepishly. “After Scabbers — well Wormtail, I asked Bill about wards that recognize Animagi. He works for Gringotts you know, as a curse-breaker. And I asked him to set up one to alert us if an Animagus entered uninvited.”

“That’s brilliant Ron!” Hermione cheered.

“That’s good thinking Ron,” Sirius agreed.

Bill ruffled Ron’s hair. His face was as red as his hair, but he looked proud of himself.

“Sirius.” It was Mrs. Weasley’s voice. She got up and sat beside him, put her hand on his arm.

“I’m sorry for the suffering you went through,” she said. And Sirius believed her. He nodded because he couldn’t find an answer to reply.

All this atmosphere was getting awfully familiar. It shouldn’t have. The Burrow was nothing like Potter Manor. It wasn’t designed elegantly, there were odd items, things out of place, the whole house was loud like its residents. The Potter Manor was quiet and peaceful. Mrs. Weasley didn’t look like Mrs. Potter. She was plump whereas Euphemia Potter was thin. Ron had six siblings; James was a single child. But it all felt so similar. Weasleys took Harry into their family, just like Potters did for him.

Sirius missed them so much. He loved Fleamont and Euphemia, and they loved him as a second son.

Sirius took a deep breath and lifted his head to look into Molly Weasley’s brown eyes. She looked a lot like her brothers. Fabian and Gideon were active members of the Order. They were older and much more experienced than Sirius but killed in battle. Two against five. The Prewett twins managed to kill two Death-Eaters before they fell. It was a trap; they learned the next day. Someone leaked their mission. The rat in the Order. Molly Weasley had the same rat who killed her brothers in her house for years.

“Thank you,” he said, but what he wanted to say was ‘I’m sorry’.

The mood changed when the twins interrupted their talk. They were very quiet since Sirius arrived, staring at him while whispering to each other.

“It’s good that you are here when Mr. Personal-Assistant-of-Mister-Crouch isn’t here,” said one of them.

“Our brother Percy, you see, takes his job veeery seriously. You wouldn’t want him to know that an illegal Animagus and prison-escapee was in our house.”

“They are right, Sirius, you can’t stay,” Hermione added.

Sirius too thought they were right. He got up to leave. After him, the twins stood up as well.

“We’ll see him out,” they announced. Their mother looked suspicious but couldn’t find a reason to disagree. Sirius said “Goodbye” to the household and went outside with twins and Harry.

When they far outside of the property border, the twins started at the same time.

“ARE YOU REALLY PADFOOT? THE PADFOOT?”

Sirius raised one eyebrow, thinking the possible reasons for his apparent fame. Then he remembered how Harry got the Marauder’s Map. He grinned widely.

“Harry tells me that you mischief makers managed to get the map in your first year. Good job figuring out the password.”

Their eyes were practically shining. “Mr. Black you are our hero!”

Sirius felt proud of his legacy for once.


	13. Lupin II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The filler chapter where we check on Remus who is working as a dark creature exterminator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so long because I didn’t want to write the books again for GoF plot. Then I thought, what about Moony? Let’s have some none plot with left angst. I hope you enjoy it. If not just skip it, you won't miss much.  
> Disclaimer: Again, I’ve never been to any of these places. Let me know if I erred.  
> Chapter specific warnings: Werewolf gore.

The bar was loud and crowded. Remus was sitting at the table furthest away from the crowd, alone, drinking possibly his last glass of beer in Berlin after months of working for his old acquaintance Joseph Adler. Joseph had contacted him after He quitted his job at Hogwarts. “There is a short-term job for you in Germany, do you want it?” he asked, and Remus accepted without asking further questions.

He assisted a team that was relocating the forest kobolds who lived just outside of Berlin to the south of Hamburg. Apparently, they were causing all sorts of problems for the magical community and Remus’s expertise in dealing with dark creatures came in handy when the kobolds got creative with their resistance to the moving. Along with livable pay, Joseph provided him a cabin outside the city with a basement where he could transform during the full moon.

Now that all kobolds were convinced and safely moved to various places, he was leaving the next day with a public portkey back to his home in Wales. He had enough money for a few months, then he needed to go back to the job searching again. All these job huntings were wearing him down maybe as much as his lycanthropy. You just don’t get used to not having enough food to live or to the terror of losing your mind monthly in an agonizing way.

He was almost done with his drink when Ali Demir, a Turkish-German wizard whom Remus worked with in this job sat down in front of him. He had a thick but short beard, tanned skin, a handsome smile, and a cheerful extrovert personality. Under all his loud self-assured persona, Remus could tell that he had some darkness in his life. _I must have a type_ , he thought as he greeted Ali.

“Adler tells me you are returning home tomorrow,” he said in his accented but clear English.

“I am. Tomorrow morning. It was good to know you, Ali,” he smiled at his coworker.

Ali smiled back and said “Likewise,” before taking a sip from his own glass of beer. “I have a proposition for you, a new job offer if you’d like.”

Remus didn’t expect to stay in abroad longer. The full moon was close, and he wanted to spend the next one in the safety of his cottage. Also, even if he wouldn’t be seeing Sirius, he wanted to be there when he was needed.

“What kind of job?” he asked as he tried to push down his guilt. Sirius was on the run and Remus needed to survive on his own as he did for more than 10 years.

“What do you know about jinn?” Ali asked leaning closer.

“Dark creatures, endemic to the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. They live in caves, possess people, and drain their life force if they are not exorcised. I’ve never seen one, though.”

Ali nodded along as he stroked his beard. “All true. My village in Turkey asked for help with a jinn situation there. They are attacking not only the wizards and witches but muggles as well. The job is to protect the community and exterminate the jinn, if possible. In addition to a modest salary, all your living and travel expenses will be covered.”

Hogwarts covered all his expenses as well. No need to pay for food or housing… it was a dream. But Remus was not a normal wizard with normal wizard needs.

“I can’t-” He couldn’t finish because Ali interrupted him.

“If you worry about your condition, I know, and it’s okay. We will accommodate you, and you will be safe.” Remus felt his face burning. It was always embarrassing to talk about this. More with the people he wanted to impress.

“How did you know?”

Ali waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Why me then? I’m no expert on jinn.” He received an almost nervous smile before he got an answer.

“We have experts on jinn. What we need is a permanent solution. I’ve seen you fight. You are good.” He sipped his drink as he observed Remus with piercing eyes. “How about you think this over,” he said finally. “I will come and pick you up tomorrow morning, and we can talk more.”

Remus did think about it all night. It was a good offer but to travel that far for a job? What if Sirius wanted him back? Harry’s reply to his birthday card didn’t mention Sirius at all. And the newspapers were silent about the Azkaban escapee for too long. Remus hoped his friend was all right.

Ali took him to his apartment where he lived with his large family in the city center the next day. Remus joined the family for a breakfast that looked, smelled, and tasted delicious. Ali was speaking constantly about anything and everything with Remus while attending to his 10 years old daughter, Berfin. She was the complete opposite of Ali. Timid and shy, she was holding his father with one hand for the entirety of the meal and released him only when Ali asked something quietly and gestured to her grandmother. She then ran to Ali’s mother and stayed with her.

Ali took him to his bedroom to speak privately and to discuss the details of the job.

“What about Berfin’s mother?” Remus asked finally when they got silent in between topics. Ali’s eyes darkened and he looked away as he answered what Remus was already suspecting.

“She died about a year ago.” And they moved to another topic.

* * *

Remus with Ali and Berfin traveled to the Magical Center of Kurdistan in Turkey five days after the full moon of September via a portkey. Until then, Remus stayed with Demir Family except for the night of the full moon where he spent in Joseph’s cabin as usual.

As soon as they arrived, Ali gave him an English-Kurdish communication bracelet. They attended a meeting with the community leaders and settled in Ali’s extended family’s house in his village.

The first night, Remus couldn’t sleep because he was worrying that he made a huge mistake by coming here. Everything was so foreign, and no one except Ali was speaking English. Even with the enchanted bracelet which sometimes caused hilarious miscommunications, it was hard to connect to people.

The locals were not using wands, the closest thing was the walking stuff used by elders which sometimes worked like wands. Their magic system was focused on enchanted objects, wards, and potions.

Remus learned more about the jinn threat from the local experts and with a team of witches and wizards they first focused on the on-going possessions. The affected muggles were so much in pain, it hurt Remus just to witness. Even after the exorcisms, victims had a hard time healing. It reminded Remus of how Sirius looked months ago. He wondered if his friend got better, or he was still in pain.

* * *

When it was time for the full moon of October, Ali took Remus to a deserted mountain top with his daughter who was almost always with his father — even when they went out for missions. Remus first thought it might be a cultural thing but then he realized that the children in Ali’s large family were looked after collectively by elders and the women. Only Berfin seemed to be hanging out with her father.

“I set up the wards. No animal can exit or enter to this 50-hectare-land,” Ali explained.

“Sounds good. There is time till the moon rises but you two should leave,” Remus replied. But neither Ali nor Berfin made a move to walk away. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Remus, there is something I need to ask you,” he looked at his daughter who was holding his hand and looking at her feet.

“What is it?”

“Can you look after her tonight? She is having a hard time every month, and I don’t have any way of helping her.”

Remus looked at the little girl with shock. How didn’t he realize this before? He should have been able to smell other werewolves. But she was a girl.

“She is like me? I’ve never seen a female survivor.”

Ali smiled sadly and caressed Berfin’s short-cut hair. “Not many have.”

“When did it happen?”

“About a year ago. For 11 full moons, we keep her in chains, and it hurts her.”

“It’s hard to transform alone.” It wasn’t until Marauders managed Animagus transformation and joined him during full moons that Remus found some relief. Then he remembered. “A year ago? You said…”

Ali nodded mutely. “It’s getting late, I need to get down. Can I trust you?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll help her.” With that Ali took a deep breath and get on his knees in front of Berfin and talked to her in German. Remus picked up his own name but nothing else. She nodded. Ali put a kiss on the crown of her head and walked away. Remus couldn’t help but notice even with all affectionate acts between father and daughter, his face was cold as ice.

Since they were not locked in small confinement or alone, it was a relatively good night. After they got to the house, Ali came into his room and hugged him tightly.

He cried on Remus’s shoulder as he kept saying “Thank you.” Remus didn’t think that a man like Ali could cry like that. When he controlled himself, he explained further:

“You asked about my wife. A year ago, Berfin was attacked, and we thought we would lose her. But she survived. It was a miracle. We both were so happy that our little girl was alive. Then the next full moon arrived. We did as we were told. We put her in a cage, locked her up. She was in so much pain. And we heard her screaming two stories above. My wife told me that she was going to take some air and I let her. When she didn’t come back half an hour later. I looked for her. I did find her… But… Her body was… parts of her were in the cage with the wolf. The morning came and I took out my daughter, washed her up, and cleaned the cage. Next month, I locked her up in the same cage where she killed her mother.”

Remus couldn’t say anything. It was horrifying. All his life he thought about what-ifs, ‘what if I killed someone, what if I hurt an innocent’. But it was only a possibility for him, never a reality. This child, however, killed her own mother, and she was going to live with it for her entire life. And this man taking care of both his own daughter and the killer of his wife. The wolf was the same as the girl, after all.

“This is the first time she healed up so quickly, and the first time she smiled at me after the incident. Thank you, Remus. Thank you.” Ali held Remus’s hands in his and kissed his knuckles.

* * *

With the winter came, the snow-covered up everything under a white blanket, the life in the mountains became much harder. Remus and their small team guarded the villages and left the large extermination for spring.

Remus spent his time with the Demir family, teaching them how to deal with a child werewolf, mainly how to manage the pain. He sent a letter to Albus and asked for the Wolfsbane potion recipe. He couldn’t brew it, but he hoped the local potioneers would be able to with the recipe. Unfortunately, the ingredients were not found easily. Ali requested the ingredients from Germany, which took a couple of months to arrive. By May, the potioneers were able to brew fresh Wolfsbane for Berfin.

Remus sent a letter to Sirius on his birthday. In his reply, Sirius didn’t call him back, he didn’t say where he was, but he gave some troubling news about Harry. Remus got another letter on his own birthday. Sirius signed it ‘ _Love, Padfoot._ ’ Remus took it out and read it again and again for days.

When spring came, they tracked down the jinn to their caves. As the only wand-wielders Remus and Ali worked on their banishment alone.

Berfin changed with each moon. She shed away her shyness like the mountain shedding its snow blanket, and she was becoming more like her father. She was laughing with them, making stupid jokes as any 10-year-old. Ali was even thinking of sending her a Wizarding school next year.

On their last full moon together, they used the wolfsbane for the first time. She was jumping around in her wolf form happily, chasing after butterflies. The next day, Ali asked him to stay.

Remus humored the thought of the life he would have with them: a large family, people who cared for each other, being respected in their community, food on the table, and a roof over their head. But it wasn’t an option for him.

“I’ve already spent too long here. There are people I must return to,” he said.

It was May and the wildflowers were blossoming on mountains when Ali handed him the portkey and a farewell kiss on his cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know why I invented a love interest for Remus as if he didn’t have enough but here he was. I won’t go into the politics but know there is a lot of baggage there and Remus’s limited POV wouldn’t capture it all.  
> The next chapter is going to be a speed run for GoF.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> You can find me on [tumblr](https://flyingkoalaandsloths.tumblr.com/)


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